Snooze You Can Use

CBS News This Morning reports on sleep disorders in this multi-part series. Choose the video links on this page to see the reports by Co-Anchor Jane Robelot and Senior Correspondent Hattie Kauffman. Below is a summary of their reports.SIZE>

More and more people these days suffer from sleep deprivation. Even the variety of known sleep disorders is on the rise. The good news, though, is that there is a growing number of methods available to identify and remedy the problem.

Part One: Our 24-Hour Lives

Sleep Disorders Part One: 24 Hour Lives
Most people know the important roles that proper diet, nutrition, and exercise play in living a healthy life. Most don't, however, realize the critical importance of proper sleep.

Dr. Richard Waldhorn, medical director of the Georgetown Sleep Disorders Center and president of the National Sleep Apnea Association, offers the following issues:

• As we near the century's end, activities and distractions have become available 24 hours a day. This provides people with greater incentives to keep going, and adds to the risk that they will throw off the body's natural time clock.
  
• Many people's sleep disorders go undiagnosed, despite the fact that sleep disorders are treatable.
  
• Anyone who falls asleep at inappropriate times, finds it easy to nap, requires an alarm clock to wake up, or needs stimulants to stay awake, may be sleep deprived.

Families with young children, in fact, can share a collective sleep disorder - with children walking and running around at all hours of the night.

Dr. Jodi Mindell, author of Sleeping Through the Night, says "there is no magic bullet solution" to solving a family sleep disorder, but offers these tips:

• Reorganize your evening, and beware of children's bedtime stalling tactics. Create a 30-minute bedtime routine that includes those last drinks of water and trips to the bathroom.
  
• Be firm and set limits. Bedtime means bedtime.
  
• Parents should check their children five minutes after they go to bed. This will hopefully eliminate the children's need to gt out of bed in search of mommy and daddy.

Nearly 3,000 sleep labs nationwide are available to help people cope with sleep disorders. At these labs, people are hooked up to machines designed to study brain waves, sleep activity, breathing, leg movements, and oxygen inhalation. The data from these studies is then analyzed and a diagnosis is made.

Disorders such as apnea (in which your breathing pathway becomes obstructed during sleep) may repeatedly awaken those inflicted, robbing them of breathing and sleeping time through the night. This can lead to strokes, high blood pressure, and an earlier death.

For those with apnea, there are life-saving tools like a "C-pap" mask that pumps oxygen into the lungs, keeping the airway clear. A much simpler device, similar to a dental retainer, juts the jaw forward, keeping the throat open.

Written by Adam S. Gaynor with video production by Jonathan H. Evans