Noise. Whether it's the blare of traffic and the hustling sounds of a city, or just your neighbor's barking dog and lawn mower cutting into your Sunday snooze, noise pollution is something we all have to deal with to some degree. But what about indoor disturbances -- in a hospital when you're lying in the Intensive Care Unit?
I know, it's not something we think about much, which is partly why there hasn't been extensive investigations into this arena. But a fresh study out of the U.K. sheds some fascinating light on this subject.
As we all can attest from experience, noises can disturb sleep and make for rude awakenings when your body is trying to cycle through its motions to refresh and rejuvenate itself. But for people under compromised health conditions and enduring recoveries in ICUs, noises and their resulting sleep interruptions can be especially problematic. And most aren't in a position to complain or tell people in the room to tone it down.
- Deeper delirium: -- the state of mind typical of those suffering through a trauma or fever and who experience restlessness, illusions, and incoherent thoughts and speech. No doubt any drugs a patient will be on can make this state worse, but so can poor sleep brought on by something as simple as too much ambient noise. Delirium not only increases a person's length of stay in a hospital, but also the severity of their condition.
Being in the ICU is hard enough to endure. Throw in sleeplessness caused by noise pollution and just about everything worsens. Sleep is essential in the recovery from illness or injury. Of all the places that should shelter sleep, the ICU has to be close to the top of the list.
So what can we do about all this? I'll get to that in my next post, when I cover the study's examination of noise-reduction techniques in Part II. Do they work? And can you try them in your home?
Sweet Dreams,
Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD, FAASM
The Sleep Doctor
This article on sleep is also available at Dr. Breus's official blog, The Insomnia Blog.