The February edition of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Grand Round expounded on ‘The Role of Sleep in the Management of Lifestyle related Diseases’, held at the Malaria Research Centre (MRC), (LASUTH). The three speakers from the Department of Family Medicine are Drs. Moyo Makinde, Olamide Oluwatuyi and Wasiu Akanmu.
In his presentation, Dr. Makinde noted the importance of sleep in the affairs of life and how the lack of sleep can aid some diseases and sicknesses. He noted that sleep is very important in one’s daily life and should be observed very well.
Furthermore, Dr. Oluwatuyi, talked about the importance of sleep and the related disease that could emanate from the lack of sleep. In her words, “the cost of poor sleep could result in absenteeism at work and reduced productivity.” She noted that daily sleep duration of less than 12 hours for infants increase glucose thereby leading to obesity.”
She added that lack of sleep is associated with CVD (Cardiovascular diseases deaths), lack of sleep causes major depression, bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder, premenstrual syndrome, post trauma-stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and also correlates with breast cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, endometrical cancer and acute myeloid leukaemia.
In the other way round, good sleep enhance learning and memory, it increases stamina, it fastens recovery, cools body temperature, and fastens cognitive processing and enables the metabolism work well and strengthens the body for the day.
Also, Dr. Akanmu placed emphasize on insomnia, apnea and different behaviours patients exhibit when sleeping. According to him, “There are certain behavioural induced syndrome due to insufficient sleep which is as a result of less sleep, stress and depression. He advised that longer sleep should be prioritized during the weekends.
