Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
I recently had a family member in the intensive care unit (ICU) for over a month in Austin, Texas. I quickly learned my main contribution would be protecting her sleep when I saw she hadn&#x27;t slept in days because of the constant interruptions. She went from reasonable and compliant in taking her medication, to extremely irritated and noncompliant with the doctors. Of course I could see this was due to sleep deprivation, but when I kept bringing this up to the doctors and nurses, they gave me blank stares and didn&#x27;t seem to believe or care. When they started suggesting another surgery due to her not improving, I nearly lost my sanity. Ultimately, I had to become a very vocal and unpleasant protector of her sleep - if a nurse came in, I quickly took him&#x2F;her outside the room and asked what they were planning and whether it was absolutely necessary. This annoyed them quite a bit and they hinted that they could have me removed. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. Just being in the ICU for a month with a loved one is hard enough, but having to battle the staff to protect something so basic as SLEEP so she could recover, made it a true nightmare. Something is truly broken if trained medical staff see sleep as optional - the data and science behind sleep is so compelling, and they don&#x27;t understand these basics? Desperately frustrating...