Home | About Natural News | Contact Us | Write for Natural News
Search our 25,000 free articles and special reports
sleep disorders

WEB MD Sleep Expert Explains the Reality of Sleep Disorders

Friday, August 08, 2008 by: Kevin Gianni (see all articles by this author)

Key concepts: Sleep disorders, Sleep apnea and Insomnia

Email this article to a friend Printable Version  FREE Email Newsletter

Breaking News for Thursday, November 20, 2008

     See all Breaking News...

FREE Natural Health Newsletter

Receive natural health product reviews, recommendations and alerts.
Instant download of 20+ free health reports and exclusive interviews.
Join over 1.2 million monthly readers.



Unsubscribe anytime, email privacy guaranteed


Products Related to This Article*

PureEnergy with Ribose
Powerful cellular energy enhancer
for heart disease, fatigue, poor energy

* Recommended by the Health Ranger.
See more recommendations on right



Articles Related to This Article:

Treating insomnia / sleep disorders with herbs and nutrition

Sleep therapist Dr. Rubin Naiman explains the true causes of sleep disorders, caffeine cravings and sleep hormone imbalances

Methylcobalamin nutrient offers solution for sleep disorders, mental alertness
(NaturalNews) This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni's Fountain of Youth Summit, which can be found at (http://fountainofyouthworldsummit.com) . In this excerpt, Dr. Michael Breus shares on reality of sleep and sleep disorders.

The Fountain of Youth World Summit with Dr. Michael Breus, the author of Good Night and Web MD's sleep expert.

Kevin: I think it's going to be an awesome talk. And as many people out there know already, I like to get right into it. So let's start talking about sleep. I know you have some facts and you have some numbers. Let's start talking about them.

Dr. Breus: Oh yeah. Let's get right into it. One of the things that's really pretty fascinating, Kevin, is just how many people are reporting any symptom of a sleep problem. If you look back at the National Sleep Foundation data from 2000, you'll see that roughly sixty-two percent of the overall population was reporting a problem. But now in 2005, this is still data that's two years old, we're seeing that almost seventy-five percent of people are reporting a type of a sleep problem.

Kevin: Wow! So it's a thirteen percent increase.

Dr. Breus: Yeah. It's truly amazing. Right now, we're thinking that more than seventy million Americans are suffering from known sleep disorders. Almost fifty percent of people snore. The thing to remember here is snoring is not necessarily a sleep disorder, but it can be a sign or symptom of a sleep disorder called Sleep Apnea.

Kevin: Um Hmm

Dr. Breus: Unfortunately, the medical community classifies snoring as more of a social nuisance in terms of keeping other people awake. Here's another fascinating statistic -- individuals who sleep with somebody who snores lose on average about one hour of sleep per night.

Kevin: Wow! That's incredible! [Laughs]

Dr. Breus: So it might not even be your sleep problem that's keeping you from getting a good night's rest. It could be your bed partner's.

Kevin: Wow.

Dr. Breus: Sleep deprivation affects things like creativity, productivity, memory, relationships and even sexual activity. So there almost isn't an area that sleep doesn't affect. Interestingly enough, it affects every single organ system available. And here's the thing that was kind of baffling to me when I first started getting into this field -- I don't know if you know this, but there are eighty-eight different sleep disorders.

Kevin: No kidding!

Dr. Breus: Yeah. You wouldn't think that there would be so many. I mean you'd figure "Well, you know, I close my eyes, I go to sleep, how many things could go wrong?" Well, the truth of the matter is, there are literally eighty-eight different types of sleep disorders. Now some of them can be long-term, they have specific categories. And there are really four or five main sleep disorders that I [haven't seen to] to deal with them. I practice and also talk about them in my book. And those who fall into the category of insomnia, which could be "having a problem falling asleep" or "having a problem staying asleep" or either "waking too early". There's also a new category of insomnia that we should talk about just for a brief moment, which is called, it's not really called insufficient sleep, it's basically called "poor quality sleep".

Kevin: Okay.

Dr. Breus: And so it's not about the number of minutes that you get but the quality of those minutes. So what's interesting here is that some people might sleep eight hours but they wake up, and they feel horrible.

Kevin: Right.

Dr. Breus: That's a whole new phenomena that we're just starting to learn more about and trying to investigate more about.

Kevin: Anything about the factors? What are some of the factors about?

Dr. Breus: Well, you know what? That's a good question as there could be multiple factors. It could be anything from stress, to caffeine, to other medical problems, to even medications or supplements that you could be taking that could be affecting your sleep.

Kevin: Mm Hmm.

Dr. Breus: So that's a lot of different things that could affect your sleep. The thing that people don't realize is -- I'm kind of like, sort of an internal medicine doctor but, for the night time, if you will, simply because every single area, every single thing you do can have a potential affect on your sleep. Now that doesn't mean that I want everybody to lock themselves in the room.

Kevin: [laughs]

Dr. Breus: You know, never drink coffee again...

Kevin: [laughs]

Dr. Breus: [Have a glass of wine] or anything like that, because that's just not me, number one. Number two is that's just not realistic. What I'm hoping to do today with this talk is to let people know, first of all, that this is a serious situation. Second, that there are a lot of different things that we'll be able to do. Very quickly, here even today, even notes that you'd be able to take today during this teleconference, this will help you to sleep better tonight. And they're very realistic, and they're not, [say], going to change your life forever.

Kevin: Well, that's fantastic. I must get into that. [Laughs]

Dr. Breus: Absolutely. Some people like to know what are some of these big problems that everybody's talking about. So, first of all, about fifty-three percent of people say that they often wake up not feeling refreshed. Thirty-six percent of people say they have trouble falling back to sleep. And then just thirty-one percent of people say they just can't fall asleep in general, [just] insomnia, is what we call it. Again, kind of interesting but more often than not, people are saying it's not the falling asleep, even though a third of people have a problem with that, it's the staying asleep.

Kevin: Okay.

Dr. Breus: That seems to really get to them.

Kevin: Okay.

Dr. Breus: Now, the other thing that's kind of fascinating is looking at who has these problems. Believe it or not, women have a tendency to report sleep problems more than men do. Now, I think there are a couple of different reasons for that. One of the different reasons I feel is that women, first of all, they have a reasonably better "in touch" sense with their body. They know and understand their body. They listen to their bodies, but they also have a greater likelihood to talk about these issues.

Kevin: Sure.

Dr. Breus: Not necessarily just with their friends, but also with their physicians, their therapists, whoever happens to be speaking with them. And so, interestingly enough, eighty-three percent of the people who are talking about these are women.

Kevin: Guys are just like "I'm okay". [Laughs]

Dr. Breus: Right, it's kind of like this bravado "Hey, I don't have any problems. All I need is five hours of sleep. Rrrr".

Kevin: [Laughs]

Dr. Breus: You know. And the truth of the matter is, that's just not the case. You know, I was with executives from Fortune 100 to Fortune 500 companies all over the world. And, you know, men, women, doesn't really matter. What I find is men come in and they say "You know, I'm tough, blah blah blah. But when you get them into a room and you talk to them, they're in trouble. They're having a really tough time because they're not eating right, they're not exercising while they're on the road, and they're certainly not sleeping right. And that's affecting their performance not only at work, but at home.

Kevin: Right.

Dr. Breus: And that's a big deal. And we're also seeing, interestingly enough, there's sort of a bimodal distribution where we're seeing a lot of people between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four having sleep problems. But then also in my practice, I'm seeing people who are in the forty-five and up range having sleep problems as well. So it really seems to be the two distributions which probably speak to the fact that there are two different types of sleep problems that are probably available in those groups.

Kevin: What do you speculate those to be?

Dr. Breus: I think the speculations would probably fall that the younger group... we're going to see more people with insomnia type problems?

Kevin: Okay.

Dr. Breus: And what I call disordered sleep.

Kevin: Okay.

Dr. Breus: See, there's a big difference between a sleep disorder which is a form of diagnosis like insomnia or [apnea] or [narcolepsy] and what I call disordered sleep, which is just wake up and "I don't feel so hot".

Kevin: Right.

Dr. Breus: I think insomnia and the disordered sleep fall in the eighteen to thirty-four age group range. When you start to get above forty-five, I think that's where we start to see a greater preponderance of sleep apnea.

Kevin: Mm Hmm.

Dr. Breus: Most of us seem to go throughout any particular age range but restless life syndrome pops up huge in the older population.

Kevin: Okay. Is sleep apnea due to being overweight or obese?

Dr. Breus: Well, here's the interesting thing -- there are multiple factors for sleep apnea. Let's just go into, real quickly, what is sleep apnea.

Kevin: Mm Hmm.

Dr. Breus: Sleep apnea is where you stop breathing in your sleep. Okay. Generally speaking I like my patients to breathe...

Kevin: [Laughs]

Dr. Breus: Okay, and so it's good when they keep breathing all night long. Now the truth of the matter is this -- you won't stop breathing in your sleep and not start back, okay. I had a funny time. I was sitting with a patient. I'm explaining her results, studying with her. And I sat down with her and I said "You know, Mrs XYZ, I want to let you know that you stopped breathing in your sleep over two hundred times last night".

Kevin: Wow!

Dr. Breus: You know what she said to me? "Did I start back up?"

Kevin: [Laughs]

Dr. Breus: Now that's pretty classic. But that's the level of education that we have to get to here in teaching people what's going on. So the answer is -- yes, she did start back up. And would you believe me if I told you that her sleep apnea was only moderate, and she stopped breathing over two hundred times a night?

To read the rest of this transcript as well as access more information by health experts on abundance, optimum health, and longevity just like Dr. Michael Breus please visit (http://fountainofyouthworldsummit.com) .

Boost this article on YahooBuzz! Click "BuzzUp!"

About the author

Kevin Gianni is a health advocate, author and speaker. He has helped thousands of people in over 85 countries learn how to take control of their health--and keep it. To view his popular internet TV Show "The Renegade Health Show" (and get a free gift!) with commentary on natural health issues, vegan and raw food diets, holistic nutrition and more click here.


His book, "The Busy Person's Fitness Solution," is a step-by-step guide to optimum health for the time and energy-strapped. To find out more about abundance, optimum health and self motivation click here... or you're interested in the vegan and raw food diet and cutting edge holistic nutrition click here. For access to free interviews, downloads and a complete bodyweight exercise archive visit www.LiveAwesome.com.

Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:


Related Articles:

Treating insomnia / sleep disorders with herbs and nutrition

Sleep therapist Dr. Rubin Naiman explains the true causes of sleep disorders, caffeine cravings and sleep hormone imbalances

Methylcobalamin nutrient offers solution for sleep disorders, mental alertness

Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com

Email this article to a friend

Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us

Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/023804.html

Reprinting this article: Non-commercial OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link.

Embed article link: (copy HTML code below):

Why green-lipped mussel oil makes krill oil obsolete

Learn the astonishing truth about green-lipped mussel oil in this eye-opening study. Full details revealed.

Click here to find out more

'This product is set to skyrocket in 2009... Don't miss the good news for your health.' - the Health Ranger



How to protect yourself from the second wave of financial collapse now unfolding

This eight-CD audio seminar was recorded LIVE by the Health Ranger in October. It reveals everything you need to know to survive the coming economic turmoil.

Click here to protect yourself now

"Guaranteed to deliver the most powerful financial protection advice you've ever seen or your money back!" - Mike Adams, the Health Ranger




Free Special Reports

How to Build Your Financial Safety Net
The 7 Principles of Mindful Wealth
The Healing Power of Sunlight and Vitamin D
The pH Nutrition Guide to Acid / Alkaline Balance
Pet Food Ingredients Revealed! (shocking)
Medicine From Fish
The Water Cure

Recommended Products Related to This Article*:

PureEnergy with Ribose
Powerful cellular energy enhancer
for heart disease, fatigue, poor energy

Additional Products of Interest to All

Breville Juice Fountain Elite 800JEXL
Simply the best juicer in the world
for fast, easy juicing

Paraliminal Audio Courses
Powerful mind-enhancing audio therapy
for reprogramming your mind for a new future

How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days
Health Ranger guide to reversing diabetes
for reversing type-2 diabetes

Boku Superfood
High-potency superfood powder
for preventing numerous diseases

Preparedness Tools Natural News Bundle
For preparedness and safety: 60% off
for preparing for natural disasters

Katadyn Exstream XR Water Purifier
#1 personal water purifier
for clean, pristine water in seconds

Healing Cancer From the Inside Out (DVD)
Amazing, eye-opening cancer documentary
for anyone wanting to know the truth on cancer

Zeitgeist: Addendum - Must-See Movie
A shocking documentary about money
for people who wan to know the real truth

The Genie In Your Genes by Dawson Church
A free, downloadable summary of this book
for learning about the biology of intention

Spirulina Pacifica
Pure, pristine spirulina superfood
for cancer prevention, alkalizing, immune func

The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton
A free download of Biology of Belief
for learning about the mind-biology connection

Living Fuel SuperBerry Ultimate
Delicious superfood meal powder
for disease prevention, antioxidant boost

The Weiss Method for Heart Disease
How to reverse heart disease naturally
for heart disease, high cholesterol

Appetite for Profit (free download)
Free download summary of this top book
for discovering the truth about food companies

Hair Soap
A pure, simple and chemical-free shampoo
for washing hair without chemicals

Exposed! The Toxic Chemistry of Products
Free summary of this shocking book
for learning the truth about toxic products

Aloe Vera 100
Pure, dried 100% aloe vera gel flakes
for sludge blood, IBS, Crohn's disease

Free download: Selling Sickness (summary)
Read the best book on disease mongering
for learning the truth about Big Pharma

Revealed: Natural Health Solutions (free)
Free summary of book by Mike Adams
for learning censored natural health remedies

Katadyn MicroPur Water Purifier Tablets
The best water purification tablets
for purifying almost any water source

Vitamineral Green from Healthforce
Nutrient-dense superfood powder
for disease prevention, body alkalizing & more

Fucoxanthin with PinnoThin
Natural appetite suppressant
for obesity, overweight, overeating

Zyflamend
Powerful anti-inflammatory herbal formula
for arthritis, joint pain, inflammation

Nascent Iodine
Miraculous nascent iodine solution
for thyroid function, Alzheimer's, brain func.

Blood Support
Halts growth of cancer tumors
for breast cancer and all cancers

Amaz-a-Power
Amazing wild berry tincture from Peru
for eye & brain protection, cancer prevention

P-73 Oreganol
Potent source of wildcrafted oregano oil
for parasites, heart disease, immune func.

Ocean Minerals Pure Magnesium Oil
#1 product for magnesium therapy
for back pain, heart health, muscle health

MGC-5 Mushroom Extracts
Potent extracts of medicinal mushrooms
for reversing cancer, boosting immune function

* Products do NOT pay to be listed here. These are genuine, independent recommendations by the Health Ranger

☯ Products with this symbol are sold by NaturalNews or its affiliates and earn revenues for NaturalNews

Discover on NaturalNews NaturalPedia™

Sleep disorders
Sleep apnea
Insomnia

Also on NaturalNews:

Streaming Health Ranger Videos
CounterThink Cartoons
FREE Special Reports
Podcasts
This site is part of the Natural News Network © 2008 All Rights Reserved. Privacy | Terms All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing International, LTD. is not responsible for content written by contributing authors. The information on this site is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice of any kind. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. Your use of this website indicates your agreement to these terms and those published here. All trademarks, registered trademarks and servicemarks mentioned on this site are the property of their respective owners.