The number of people with “sleep disorders” has increased

SAFAKNA TURKEY – Member of the Board of the Turkish Association of Sleep Medicine Prof. Dr. Hikmet Firat,

He said that after the earthquakes in Kahramanmaras, many people had a situation called “post-traumatic stress”. prof. Dr. Firat stated that this situation is inevitable for those who live in the earthquake zone, and especially for those who survived the earthquake: “It is actually a natural human reaction; body response. When people experience stress, certain hormones are released in the brain. Thanks to the hormones we call “neurotransmitters” it protects itself and thanks to this protection it survives. However, this protection also brings illness. First, in people who have experienced trauma in a very short time, after an earthquake, there is some forgetfulness, stress and depression. They don’t want to talk about it too much. These are the symptoms that stand in the first place, but in the later stages of this, situations arise that affect the behavior of the person. We face both psychological behavioral disorders and sleep-related problems.

“IF THE TREATMENT IS NOT PERFORMED, IT CONTINUES FOR 10 YEARS”

Emphasizing that sleep disorders are in the first place in patients, prof. Dr. Firat said: “Previous studies have shown that if this is not prevented, that is, if these problems are not treated, these problems can last up to 10 years. Therefore, it is very important that we identify them. We must not leave these people alone. In particular, sleep disorders; reduced sleep time, that is, he goes to bed in the evening, but always wakes up at 3 or 4 in the morning, and not at the time he should wake up; frequent awakenings at night, nightmares, dreams, and as a result of this, of course, these people wake up very tired in the morning and their tendency to sleep during the day increases. It is possible that in the future sleep disorders will cause a group of diseases, especially metabolic, psychological and cardiovascular diseases. For this reason, we have conditions that need to be treated, especially in children and adults with sleep disorders. I want to emphasize that if a person is not able to cope with them, and this is only a month after the earthquake, then he definitely needs to turn to specialists,” he said.

“DO NOT SLEEP UNTIL YOU GO TO SLEEP WITH THESE CARES”

Claiming that not only earthquake survivors but also people outside the earthquake zone are affected by the images they receive from the media, Prof. Dr. Firat said:

“Here, of course, there are situations that vary from person to person, not everyone has the same answer. Everyone’s sensitivity and reaction to a situation is different. Especially those who previously had sleep problems and some psychological illnesses; Of course, in such situations, people with diseases such as depression or anxiety disorders suffer much more. Even if they are not in the earthquake zone, there are many people who have been affected by the earthquake, even without this injury, thanks to the news sent from the media, images or news they receive, and there are many people who are sleeping. disorders. Among them, insomnia, which we call “insomnia”, is the most prominent disease. It is known that there are earthquake zones in many parts of Turkey, so if a person is near an earthquake zone, be it a place, a district or a city, he is sure to experience this anxiety. When something like this happens on its own, she worries, “I wonder if I can handle it.” As long as he goes to bed with these worries almost every night, there is of course no possibility that he doesn’t have a sleep disorder. In particular, the population affected by the earthquake has greatly increased over the past month. In fact, the number of patients who contacted us about this has increased.”