British writer Anthony Burgess once wrote, “Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.” We may chuckle at his assessment of how sleep can produce strange bed fellows but upon closer inspection, true words have never been spoken. In the Caribbean, we are known for doing yeoman work with very little rest or going the extra mile when we are tired or not at peak performance. While that may sound admirable and inspiring, studies are now showing that making that kind of sacrifice long term is just unhealthy but can have devastating consequences on both our physical and mental well-being.
As an advocate for quality sleep and all the beautiful things that come with it, Gregory Arneaud is on a mission to bring awareness to the people of the Caribbean as to how important sleep is to creating harmony in our minds and body. As the founder and clinical director of ISD Health Solutions and the non-governmental organization Caribbean Sleep Disorders Association, he is passionate about educating people with his guiding philosophy being ‘how you sleep is how you live.’ An American respiratory therapist whose parents originated from Trinidad and Tobago, Arneaud is determined to be that voice in the dark and the bridge that connects people to those accredited to sleep organizations that can assist them with their health issues related to a constant and chronic lack of quality
BUZZZ Magazine visited Arneaud recently to unearth the myriad of ways sleep is beneficial to us and also learn how the lack of it can severely impact everything from our mood to our metabolism and every aspect of our lives in between. Though the issues may sound daunting, all hope is not lost as with knowledge comes power and with intervention we can once again enjoy our ZZZZZs without counting sheep, drinking hot milk (especially if you are lactose intolerant!), reading a boring book or listening to an audio recording of waterfalls or waves crashing.
The absence of breath for 10 seconds or more is called apnea and sleep apnea is a very real issue but one that gets little to no attention in the region. “It is a problem in the Caribbean that needs to be addressed as the citizens of the region are dying and they have no clue that their health is in crisis because of lack of sleep.”
The biggest myth to dispel he stated is that sleep is not very important to living. “Sleep is not a luxury, it is actually a necessity and in the Caribbean unfortunately there is a lot of stigma about being resilient, strong and pushing through. We pride ourselves on getting little sleep while getting much done. We work two jobs etc, and there is very little time to get the sleep that our minds and bodies need. We look at sleep from a position of quantity meaning we go to bed at this time and wake up at this time and expect that should give us enough time to be rested but we haven’t really understood the physiology of sleep. It’s more than just time; it’s about the quality of sleep over the quantity of sleep.”
There are stages of sleep that we go through which are light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep. These he shared are often disrupted because of hormonal changes in the body, stress on the mind, waking up to go to the bathroom and other factors that break up our night’s sleep so that it becomes fragmented. A lack of quality sleep affects us greatly but it does not hurt like a toothache so we are not aware of it. “Sleep apnea does not have a pain associated with it except if you have a partner that gives you an elbow in the night to roll over because you’ve been snoring loudly.
Want more? Grab the latest issue of Buzzz Magazine or join our community today for exclusive content, insider perks, and inspiration you won’t find anywhere else!