The Everly Brothers said it, “dream, dream, dream…,” but St. Tammany residents are not doing it.

Anwant Chawla, a sleep specialist and psychiatrist with the Slidell Memorial Hospital and Northshore Regional Medical Center, said prescription refill requests and appointments for sleep problems are rising at an alarming rate across the parish.

“We spend one-third of our lives sleeping,” Chawla said. “If that one third is messed up, than the other two thirds will be messed up as well.” It’s all about sleep.

Mental abilities, physical abilities and even social abilities are all affected by the quality of sleep a person receives, Chawla said.

Although there’s no magic number pinned to the required number of hours of sleep needed, Chawla recommends at least several hours of sleep per night to allow your body to regroup for the next day.

However, as far as he can tell, many residents are falling short of achieving the invigorating sleep cycles required each night, which Chawla said started after Katrina turned our lives inside out. Now the latest bout of storms is only adding to the deprivation of sleep, Chawla said.

“Most people are stressing more now,” he said. “Stressors are hard to deal with and often lead to a poor quality of sleep.”

Stressors like Ike and Gustav are keeping the Sandman away and the doctor busy diagnosing sleep disorders.

Chawla said there are currently 84 sleep disorders, with sleep apnea as the most dangerous and one of the most common. A precursor to sleep apnea includes incessant and loud snoring that often leads to the airway passages closing throughout the night.

If snoring is a recurring theme in your sleep life, there are ways of correcting the issue.

Changing sleeping positions is one of them, Chawla said, explaining snoring is a result of the throat muscles relaxing at night and partially closing. Sleeping on your back often worsens snoring, so Chawla recommends sleeping on your right side, which maintains a healthy neck and back alignment, keeping the air passages free of obstructions.

Other more common disorders include parasomnia, teeth grinding, bed wetting, narcolepsy, night terrors, restless leg syndrome and sleepwalking.

All, Chawla said, can be treated, if not cured, or prevented by following his 12 rules of sleep hygiene. Some of the rules include sticking to a regular bedtime schedule, exercising regularly in the morning or early afternoon instead of just before sleep, avoiding after-hour caffeinated and alcoholic beverages, use caution with sleeping pills, avoiding heavy snacks just before bed and going to sleep when you are sleepy.

To help cope with the stress of disaster recovery, Chawla recommends several relaxation techniques before bedtime.

“Distracting your mind” with reading a book or listening to soft music is one way of calming down, Chawla said.

Other methods recommended by the AASM is taking a warm bath, deep breathing exercises and even eating a light snack before bedtime.

If individual efforts are unsuccessful, most local hospitals have sleep centers for diagnosing and treating sleep disorders, which Chawla said are usually covered fully by most insurance companies.

Most importantly, Chawla said, sleep issues need to be addressed sooner than later.

“The quality of sleep you get is proportional to your alertness,” Chawla said, adding this is a major factor in daily activities, including driving.

For more information on sleep disorders, visit www.aasmnet.org or contact your local hospital.