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Sleep Disorders & Urological Problems
Anastasios D. Kalantzis, Surgeon Urologist-Andrologist
Hippocrates said that “Both sleep and wakefulness are harmful if they are immoderate and exceed their due proportion”.
Insomnia is one of the commonest disorders of human organism affecting approximately one third of the general population, while it is more commonly observed with women. Disturbed sleep causes significant day fatigue and has a negative effect on the person’s energy and productivity.
At the same time it has serious consequences on our health, such as depression, immunosuppression and increased risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus, since sleep is necessary for the normal function of the endocrinal, metabolic and immune system.
Two researches presented in the annual American Urology Convention refer to the relationship between sleep disorders and some urological conditions.
A research was conducted on 870 middle age men (47.3 years of age on average) who were overweight or obese. 63% proved to suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, which means that they presented instances of abnormal pauses in breathing during sleep, which resulted in them waking up several times each night. Additionally, 5,6% had diabetes, while 29% were smokers. The researchers of the Mount Sinai Medical Center of New York ended up in the result that men with erectile dysfunction ran more than twice the risk to suffer from apnea.
In another research, the scientists from the New England Research Institutions in Massachusetts monitored 1.610 men and 2.535 women evaluating their sleep quality and the development of urological problems. These researchers found that insufficient sleep in men and disturbed sleep in men (8%) and women (13%) had a close relation with the frequency of symptoms in the low urinary system. Sychnuria and difficulty in urination are observed more often in men with disturbed sleep or with less of 5 hours of sleep every day, while urine incontinence and nocturia related with disturbed sleep in women.
During evaluation of urological problems and their treatment, the quality of sleep should be taken into account, in order for the doctor to focus not only on the improvement of symptoms, but also to generally contribute to the improvement of the patients’ quality of life.
Documentation
1. H. Kyratsas, Surgeon Urologist-Andrologist – “Quality of Sleep and Urological-Andrological Problems”, 02/06/2001, www.zougla.gr
2. Alexandros Ginis, Endocrinologist – “Fight tormenting sleep”, 08/12/2008, www.iatronet.gr
3. Hellenic Urology Convention, 2/10/2006, www.health.ana-mpa.gr
4. “Bad sleep causes erectile dysfunctions”, 16/05/2011, www.ygeia-blog.gr
