As the prospect of war becomes a striking reality, and political and economic turmoil escalates around the Middle East, tension increases and anticipation takes on a new form. Yasmine El-Rashidi looks into the one loss that is shared by people around the world Nighttime used to be a scary thing, when the shadows and sounds and creatures that made the floors creak would suddenly appear. The trees outside would take on personas, and each bedroom feature would assume a human role. The bedcover, during those sleepless nights, became the only solace shield. The dark, these days, has taken on a form entirely its own. No longer is the night the mystical enemy, but rather, it is the day and what it will bring. As the Middle East conflict seemingly reaches its peak, and the markets tumble and businesses fall, nighttime has become almost every man's second friend. "Business is bad," says businessman Ahmed Ismail. "Because of the dollar, all the prices have changed," he continues. "When you talk of electricity and cables, you're talking in the millions of pounds and dollars. I signed deals to put in the electrical infrastructures and cabling for factories and compounds, and I signed contracts based on rates prior to the devaluation of the pound. Now I'm stuck, because the profit I had calculated based on those rates no longer exists. I can't sleep at night because of this." When he says he can't sleep, he means it. He tosses and turns, gets out of bed and in again, and tosses some more(insomnia). "At first, when the tension started, and the market looked a bit shaky, I would have restless nights," he says. "But now I'm really stuck." Stuck, that is, because he has three children. And stuck, of course, because the lack of sleep is bringing him down. "Sleep deprivation doesn't just affect a person physiologically," says Egypt's leading sleep specialist Dr Shahira Loza, director of Cairo Centre for Sleep Disorders. "It takes an emotional toll on a person. People with insomnia can be depressed because of it. Even though sleep has scientifically been found to be an active process, your body needs rest, and your mind needs rest." These days, unfortunately, millions of minds around the world are not getting the rest they need. And everyone is feeling it; the Egyptians and Kuwaitis, the Palestinians and Israelis, and the Americans and the French. And unlike most other political backlashes that may affect a single population, segment of a nation or strata of society more significantly than another, this time, the backlash is widespread and strongly felt. By everyone. "In a situation like this there is tension at all levels of society," says psychologist Howaida El- Ansari. "I have clients who are businessmen, and I have the children of businessmen, and I have clients with relatives in Palestine and Kuwait, and I have Americans whose spouses are in the military or who have been deployed to Kuwait City. It's endless." From the businessmen and bankers, to their children, wives and partners. And it spans the globe. On the Web site Jerusalamite.com, a Q&A includes the following posting: "Youth detained by Israeli Public Security investigators are allowed a proper sleep schedule as required by health authorities. False: often deprived of sleep for 4-5 days in order to speed and intensify torture, the youth are then allowed to rest 2-3 hours at a time in order to prolong their torture." But sleep deprivation does not stop there. It spreads up the political ladder, and ends only right at the top. Commonplace in former US President Bill Clinton's speeches was the mention of many sleepless nights, particularly, that is, when it came to the Middle East, the peace process, and the signing of treaties. On a Web site produced and maintained by the US Department of State's Office of International Information Programs (usinfo.state.gov), the reposting of an article first published in The Washington Post on 24 October, 2002, by Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, is entitled "No Time to Sleep". "As we contemplate preemptive action to prevent Saddam Hussein from acquiring the world's worst weapons," McCain writes, "it's worth understanding how the temptation to go home and get a nice quiet sleep led directly to the inevitable crisis we now face on the Korean peninsula -- where North Korea's acknowledgment of a secret nuclear weapons programme demonstrates the perils of entrusting American security to dangerously flawed agreements with rogue regimes." "Credibility, he continues, "Is a nation's greatest asset in international affairs... The Clinton administration's lack of credibility in dealing with North Korea emboldened the regime to defy America. The Bush Administration's credible threat of force against Iraq is rallying American and international opinion in our favour, and has put Baghdad on notice. Pyongyang is watching. The dangers posed by Iraq and North Korea are different, but as any surviving member of the Taliban will attest -- and as Saddam Hussein may soon learn -- in this new era, rogue regimes that openly defy and gravely threaten the United States put themselves in peril when they doubt our resolve to end challenges to our security. If we had met the North Korean nuclear challenge with resolve rather than accommodation a decade ago, we would be more secure now. North Korea teaches us that if we sleep in the face of the Iraq threat today, we may be sleepless tomorrow." In a sense, he may be right, but in many ways, sleep experts and psychologists state, he is clearly wrong. "There is no national data on the financial losses incurred in Egypt as a result of sleep deprived employees," says Loza, "But it is a well-documented reality elsewhere in the world." Based on the odd occurrences, we like to think otherwise. "You hear of writers, for example, that stayed up for days on end and produced great literary works," El-Ansari says. "But those cases are rare. And at the end of the day, they drove themselves crazy." Dr Loza agrees. "Physiologically and psychologically it's not a natural state for the body to be in," she says. "It is not clearly understood why exactly we need sleep, but we do, and if you don't get enough sleep, you build what is known as a sleep debt -- which is cumulative. The only way to get rid of the sleep debt is to actually sleep. And caffeine won't do it," she laughs. "You may hear people say that they haven't slept all night, but they have, they may just feel unrested. And it's important to bear in mind that if you haven't slept enough, you'll fall asleep at another time -- the need for sleep cannot dissipate." Contrary to what may be belief, staying up in bed and telling oneself that they cannot sleep actually worsens the situation. One loses clarity and the ability to rationalise and make logical, well-thought out decisions. Sleep deprivation is, ultimately, detrimental to efficiency. Politicians aside, what are the people of the world -- the worried businessmen and wives and residents of nations doomed by the prospect of missiles and scuds -- meant to do? "Insomnia is becoming increasingly common among my patients," El-Ansari says. "And it will only increase as regional stability shakes more." That fact is widely felt. Ways of enhancing work efficiency are posted on one of the largest career sites in the country, powered by Egyptian IT giant Linkdot.net. The featured article deals with insomnia, and natural ways to combat the disorder. "The greatest sleep stealer," the National Sleep Institute points out, "is stress. After that come various lifestyle stress factors, such as drinking alcohol or beverages that contain caffeine in the afternoon or evening, exercising in the evening, working or doing other mentally intense activities right before, or after, getting into bed... a room that's too hot, or cold, too noisy or too brightly lit." There are many other things too. Sleep apnea -- which is characterised by snoring and interrupted breathing -- causes brief awakening (often unnoticed), and excessive daytime sleepiness. Disorders that cause involuntary limb movements during sleep, such as periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD), break up the normal sleep pattern and are also likely to make sleep less refreshing and result in daytime sleepiness. For women, pregnancy and hormonal shifts including those that cause premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or menopause and its accompanying hot flushes can also intrude on sleep. In addition, certain medications such as decongestants, steroids and some medicines for high blood pressure, asthma, or depression can cause sleeping difficulties as a side effect. "Good sleep is hard to come by," Dr Loza laughs. "Because it takes work!" And it is important to remember that it isn't the quantity that is important, but the quality. "The number of hours of sleep you need is as many as you need to wake up feeling refeshed, that varies from person to person." The National Sleep Foundation recommends numerous sleep-remedies, echoed by Dr Loza. "Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol in the late afternoon and evening. If you have trouble sleeping when you go to bed, don't nap during the day, since it affects your ability to sleep at night. Exercise regularly, but do so at least three hours before bed-time. Establish a regular, relaxing bedtime routine that will allow you to unwind and send a 'signal' to your brain that it's time to sleep." Warm baths, soothing music, aromatherapy, are all suggested remedies. "Most people use bedtime as think time," Dr Loza says. "It's important to establish a routine that provides social cues to your mind that it is time to sleep. I like to compare it with eating," she continues. "When you sit down at your dining table and hear the pots and pans, the cue you get is hunger," she explains. "Your bed and bedroom should provide cues in the same way. You should use them just for sleeping. If you need to, write your problems down on a piece of paper, and leave it outside the bedroom door. You always need to think of conditioning and what you're training your body to do." The problem, unfortunately, is that we all use those last 30 minutes of the day to contemplate life and its misgivings. "Clients tell me that bedtime is the 'alone time' they give themselves to reflect on the day and life. No wonder they don't sleep! And no wonder they wake up the next day and don't produce. It's a cycle that we all put ourselves in. Parents, students, employees, world leaders. We all find reasons to stay up at night and lose sleep." And as the world loses sleep, it also loses, on every level, peace.
