West Virginia has made number one on a top 10 list again, and not for a good reason. Two different reports place our state at the top of a list of both states and cities lacking in good sleep. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) compiled a report that was based on people reporting if they had slept well in the past 30 days. West Virginia claimed the top spot at 19.3% of those saying they had poor sleep. The next highest rated state was Tennessee at 14.8%. Apparently North Dakota contains the best snoozers at the lowest rate of 7.4%. Surprisingly even people in DC and California are good sleepers at 8.5% and 8.0% respectively. The factors most commonly found in people reporting the poorest quality sleep were:
- age 25-34
- female
- unemployed
- below high school education
- divorced, widowed , or separated.
As far as cities go, Charleston, WV ranked number one as a top 10 town for insomniacs as reported in Newsweeks's The Daily Beast. The list was complied from the number of people who take pain relievers for a sleep disorders. Cities in Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia also top the list.
So what is the big deal about sleep quality? It is known to be related to health risk factors for heart attacks, strokes, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. Pain significantly affects getting good, restful, recuperative sleep. Common causes of sleep loss include headaches, temporomandibular pain (tmj-jaw), fibromyalgia, and back and neck pain. Seek medical help if you have difficulty sleeping multiple nights in a week or routinely wake and are unable to return to sleep. Unrelenting pain that wakes you and won't allow you to return to sleep can be a serious problem and needs to be checked out by your physician.
Some easy steps to try on your own for improved sleep include:
- reduce or eliminate caffeine
- practice deep breathing daily, especially prior to bedtime
- sleep in a comfortably cool room
- sleep in a completely dark room (this includes covering the light from your alarm clock)
- get regular, moderate exercise (but not right before bed)