19 million Thais suffer from insomnia, says hospital director

By The Nation

 

File photo

 

As World Sleep Day was celebrated globally on Friday, Nakhon Ratchasima Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital revealed that up to 19 million Thais suffer from sleep deprivation.

 

Hospital director Dr Kitkawee Pono warned people suffering from insomnia to seek the advice of a doctor if they get insufficient sleep for two weeks and not to buy over-the-counter medicines or use other patients' medicine to cure the symptom themselves. 

 

Such action does not tackle the problem at the source and wouldn't be effective in the long run while the symptom could escalate to a two-times-higher risk of having clinical depression, Kitkawee said.

 

He urged people to call the Mental Health Department's hotline 1323 for advise around the clock.

 

Kitkawee said that while about two billion people worldwide suffer various degrees of insomnia, some 30 per cent of the Thai population – or up to 19 million – suffered, mostly for a short period. About 10 per cent of these people suffered chronic insomnia with some conditions lasting for months. 

 

He said the most cited reasons for such sleep deprivation were physical or mental health issues such as arthritis, gastroesophageal reflux disease or tremendous stress, as well as environment factors such as noise. 

 

The average person could have one to two sleepless nights per week, he said, but it would become a problem when the condition persists every night for more than two weeks. 

 

"The problem is sleep-deprived people still lack a good understanding hence they were focusing on the symptom more than the cause," he said.

 

He said the hospital found that nearly all insomnia patients bought over-the-counter or online medicines while some used other patients' medicines to cure themselves before deciding to seek a doctor's advise. 

 

He said self treatment was dangerous as insomnia treatments differed due to individual's cause. Leaving insomnia untreated could escalate to a more severe danger such as the two-time-higher risk of having clinical depression, while worsening the persons' underlying illness such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes or dementia. 

 

World Sleep Day has been celebrated for 12 years and is an internationally recognised awareness event that promotes healthy sleep and calls for action on important sleep issues. This year, the event was celebrated in 70 countries with the theme, ‘Healthy Sleep, Healthy Aging,’ emphasising the importance of sleep in overall health at any age.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30365890

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-15

Nothing that the offer of a job and a hammock won't fix!

Probably the sound of dogs barking all night.

I have the same problem.

That's surprising. I've seen Thais sleep on back of a motocy, standing in a bus, etc. They seem to have a supernatural ability to fall asleep within a second anywhere.

another reason to liberalize cannabis...

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

19 million Thais suffer from insomnia,

from not drinking enough Lao Khao .. 

 

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

, says hospital director

 

Conservatively, 19 million Thais most likely have no dedicated bedroom or bed and sleep on the floor, in the same room as others, they have no AC & then they have to deal with the noise, dogs, trucks, motorcycles & others *arting & snoring all night, hardly surprising they suffer from "sleep deprivation" 

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

That's surprising. I've seen Thais sleep on back of a motocy, standing in a bus, etc. They seem to have a supernatural ability to fall asleep within a second anywhere.

Also while driving.

regards worgeordie

My Mrs cannot get to sleep at night, I tell her it might be because she sleeps in the afternoons. That has nothing to do with it she says as that is snoozing, not sleeping. Thai logic.

Tis the heat. 

2 hours ago, DrTuner said:

That's surprising. I've seen Thais sleep on back of a motocy, standing in a bus, etc. They seem to have a supernatural ability to fall asleep within a second anywhere.

That is actually the result of Insomnia hehe.
I used to sleep walk on patrols in training after having been awake 48 hours (even concrete would be classed comfortable when I was that tired).

But I guess heat, noise and also the use of smartphones as it disrupt the production of melatonin. That last problem starts to surface globally.
Or just that large amount of Thais that work double jobs and have long commutes, they simply lack time to sleep.

Edited March 15, 20197 yr by tabarin

1 hour ago, CGW said:

Conservatively, 19 million Thais most likely have no dedicated bedroom or bed and sleep on the floor, in the same room as others, they have no AC & then they have to deal with the noise, dogs, trucks, motorcycles & others *arting & snoring all night, hardly surprising they suffer from "sleep deprivation" 

Seems to be no problem for them though, they are used to it.
I prepared the guest room for the in laws only to find out they prefer sleeping on the floor in the living room instead.

Edited March 15, 20197 yr by tabarin

Probably because a lot of them stay up until the wee hours of the night either watching endless TV series on netflix (or the like) and / or chatting on social media. 

 

Definitely no problem with insomnia in my village - when I drive down the road in the afternoon, it seems at least one in four people are out on the bamboo perch in front of their house fast asleep.

A healthy diet and a little exercise can do wonders for a poor night of sleep.

 

But we also all know the bikes, roosters, dogs, heat, lack of comfort, worries of money, fear of face loss, fear of saying anything about anyone, too much booze, too much sugar, mozzies, poor nutrition, late night TV, mobile phone addiction, and on and on and on, play a big roll in this.

Ok see a doctor, he prescribes (in some cases!) alprazolam to GET to sleep, and patients are promptly harassed in some hospitals , and turned back to have a SR doctor sign a document where he acknowledge the medicine to be a listed narcotic, then after 4 weeks start warning of long term addiction etc etc........insomnia is a decease not to be solved with a short term medicine........and extremely important to take seriously by medical institutions. 

Usually whilst driving, preferred Thai Job minivan driver, welcome to Thailand.

6 hours ago, tabarin said:

[noise] Seems to be no problem for them though, they are used to it.

Even if a person is asleep noise is still a huge problem for them. The brain is always processing noise even when you are asleep. That's why if someone calls your name when asleep you wake up. The brain needs quiet times to rest. If it is overworked with noise it does not get the rest and replenishment it needs. Many health problems are the result. In the west we are only now beginning to learn just how big of a problem this is. 

 

In my hood they would celebrate World Sleep Day 365 days a year. Problem is, nobody wants to wake up to prepare for the party.

My Wife can sleep on a clothesline in a hurricane.............

Aloha,

As an expat living in Bangkok, I also have a chronic insomnia and arthritic pain, therefore,  waiting for the hospital pharmacies to dispense medical cannabis oil!

12 hours ago, thequietman said:

Nothing that the offer of a job and a hammock won't fix!

Right, i can tell you insomnia is not fun. I have had a problem sleeping for a while it really wrecks you. People who never had this problem have no clue about it. 

 

I am slowly recovering form insomnia after having spend 2 years finding out what caused it. 

7 hours ago, dcnx said:

A healthy diet and a little exercise can do wonders for a poor night of sleep.

 

But we also all know the bikes, roosters, dogs, heat, lack of comfort, worries of money, fear of face loss, fear of saying anything about anyone, too much booze, too much sugar, mozzies, poor nutrition, late night TV, mobile phone addiction, and on and on and on, play a big roll in this.

Not always the cure, i exercised 4-5 times a week, ate good and still had insomnia. It actually caused me to get so weak and unmotivated that I did not train for 4 months last year. When the exercise went diet went bad too. I don't drink so no booze, no money problems, no late TV and so on.

 

At first i thought it was my lower back (it was not), then i thought it was my prostate (it was not), and many other things. In the end it was that my body had become intolerant of caffeine. I used to be able to use loads of it without problems. That was never a problem before so I did not think of it until much later. Also my thyroid medicine did not help much.. i actually stopped as taking them also kept me up at night. 

 

Many many reasons for insomnia finding what one causes the problem is hard. I also took all kind of over the counter and not over the counter stuff to combat it from melatonine to xanax. I even tried CBC oil (without THC) but i found out it was illegal and did not help. Not fun waking up tired. 

15 minutes ago, bkkbudddy said:

Aloha,

As an expat living in Bangkok, I also have a chronic insomnia and arthritic pain, therefore,  waiting for the hospital pharmacies to dispense medical cannabis oil!

Better be sure to either get it without THC or have a prescription or you could be toast. I hope they go on and quickly come up with cannabis oil here in Thailand.

My Wife can sleep on a clothesline in a hurricane.............

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Sent from my SM-J250F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

They catch up during daylight hours!

11 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Also while driving.

regards worgeordie

Yes, that will be the root cause of brake failure in Thailand.

How to sleep well when construction and bars running around the clock. 

Fact is most will have their "phones" next to them while they "sleep" also, fact is - as a society we are in denial that wifi is anything but wonderful, I wont have phones in the bedroom and wifi turned off every night.

14 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Also while driving.

regards worgeordie

When traveling to Koh Chang I now try to take exclusively a tourist bus because with a local bus all thai will close the curtains and fall in a rapid comatose state. 

 

Then I cannot enjoy the beautiful Thai landscape scenery and I feel like living in a dark tin can waiting for 9 hours to escape this imprisonment, of course I suffer myself of a dangerous state of insomnia...  It is my experience that nobody can sleep as fast as a Thai in any situation, I must know my wife is Thai...