"Why Are We All So Tired?"

When someone comes to talk with the Family Care Clinic's Marcy Fadness about the problems they are having sleeping, they usually make a simple statement: "I am tired of being tired."

Fadness on Tuesday told members of the Luther College Women's Club that it's not unusual to hear such a statement: 60 percent of all wome report getting a good night's sleep only once or twice a week.

What's causing this epidemic of tiredness?  Not surprisingly, there are a number of causes.  Americans are spending less time sleeping.  We sleep an average of two hours a night less than our counterparts did 100 years ago.  We also have television and computers and other new inventions keeping us stimulated and awake.

But many times it's a medical issue that causes sleep problems, says Fadness.  She says the biggest issue is sleep apnea,  a sleep disorder characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing or instances of abnormally low breathing during sleep.

Fadness says 25 percent of men and between 9 percent to 25 percent of women suffer from sleep apnea.  Despite common perception, apnea is NOT a weight issue, "it's all about anatomy," says Fadness.    Other health issues can have an impact.  For instance, people who are taking three or more blood pressure medications have an 83 percent of likelihood of having Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Fadness says if you're suffering from being tired, it's a good idea to get a sleep study, to make sure you're getting the quantity and quality of sleep you need.

If that study does find out you have sleep apnea, the cure is simple--a sleep mask that pumps air into your breathing passages and keeps them open during sleep.  Fadness used to work with the Iowa Sleep Disorders Center in Des Moines and has made sleep disorders a key part of her job as a physician's assistant at the Family Care Center in Decorah.  She says she's seen plenty of cases of people who have cleared up their problems just by getting a sleep study and taking steps to cure their sleep apnea problem.