Lack of sleep is the most neglected medical condition

The longest nights of the year are upon us, the dark hours rush on quickly and the day's exhales come with certain urging to get more sleep.

But instead of crawling into bed and drifting off to our dreams, most of us do not get enough good-quality shut-eye. We stay up late chasing deadlines or binge-watching TV till the wee hours. When we do get to bed we battle with snoring partners, pets hogging blankets, insomnia or any other range of sleeping disorders.

When we wake, we spend our days complaining about how tired we are, reaching for another cup of coffee, or nodding off in late-afternoon traffic. Worse still we wear our sleep deprivation as badges of honour, acts of martyrdom for our stressed and stretched modern lives.

But sleep debt and sleep deprivation are more worrying than water-cooler griping. And the problem has gained mainstream attention from people such as Ariana Huffington, whose The Sleep Revolution was published last year. She is on a crusade against the "cultural dismissal" of sleep, which compromises our health, work lives, personal lives and even sex lives.

Joburg cardiologist Dr Jeff King, chairman of the South African Society of Sleep Medicine, calls sleep deprivation the "most under-recognised, underdiagnosed medical condition".

King says deep sleep is essential for the body and brain to rest and refuel. The absence of good-quality sleep over an extended period could be at the centre of a range of modern medical maladies, such as chronic fatigue, depression and anxiety, erectile dysfunction and high blood pressure that can lead to heart disease and stroke.

"People should take their lack of sleep seriously and should see a GP if they suspect they're sleep-deprived," says King.

It's being aware of warning signs, such as waking up tired, nodding off at your desk, being an emotional wreck all the time, having impaired memory, or feeling as if your motor skills are off. King cautions against ignoring snoring, gasping for breath while sleeping, high blood pressure and being overweight.

Being able to solve the sleep debt crisis will stave off more serious medical conditions. It makes sense for better healthcare management, he says.

For Debbie Hall, whose business sells high-end luxury beds and linens, her growing client base is testimony that people are recognising sleep is the crucial one-third in the 8-8-8 rule - we should sleep for eight hours, work for eight hours and play for eight hours in our 24-hour day.

"Sleep is the one-third that is most crucial as it determines the quality of the other two- thirds of our lives," says Hall.

She says there's a trend towards custom-fit mattresses with spring coil tension matching individual needs and recognising that linen is about comfort, creating a sense of wellbeing and temperature regulation - essential for deep sleep and quality rest.

• This article was originally published in The Times.