Roughly two million people suffer from sleeping disorders, but fewer than a quarter of them seek medical treatment and many wrongly fear addiction to sleeping pills, according to a survey made public yesterday by psychiatrists at National Taiwan University Hospital.
"Sleeping disorders are a major health problem. There are estimated to be more than two million sufferers in Taiwan," said deputy director-general of NTU hospital Lin Fang-yu (
NTU hospital conducted a survey to determine the frequency of cases of insomnia. The hospital surveyed 1,018 people over the past year and carried out a clinical study on the illness. It released the results of its research yesterday.
The research also found that less than one quarter of patients who suffered from insomnia sought help from physicians and around 20 percent of patients looked for alternative approaches to deal with their sleep disorder, including drinking alcohol.
"Alcohol will harm the quality of sleep, although it might make you fall asleep quickly," said psychiatrist Lee Yu-chou (李宇宙), appealing to people suffering from insomnia to go and see a doctor.
Lin said that there are many social consequences of insomnia, but clinical research remains in its beginning stages in Taiwan.
An estimated 30 percent of the population suffers various symptoms of insomnia, including difficulties falling asleep, waking up frequently, waking up too early and unsatisfactory sleep. Additionally, 3 percent of the population experience somnolence during the daytime, according to the research.
Despite the prevalence of insomnia, many people feel reluctant to take sleeping pills because of fears, which doctors yesterday said were unfounded, about such medication.
Lee said one of his patients suffered from insomnia for so long that he contemplated suicide, but refused to take drugs because friends had warned him of the consequences of addiction to sleeping pills.
"This is a misconception. Patients should take sleeping pills if they need them," Lin said. "Don't let sleeplessness become a chronic problem."
Many patients' insomnia originates from other diseases affecting the body generally and the nervous system, as well as from mental problems.
"Ninety percent of people with mental disorders will have sleep disorders," Lin said.
Regardless of the origins of insomnia, if the problem occurs three days a week for a month, it's necessary to see a doctor," Lin said.
Sleep problems may cause depression, influence work efficiency, reduce recognition skills and put safety at risk. "Many workers suffering from insomnia have failed to keep their concentration while on duty and have placed public safety at risk," Lin said.
Instances of an MRT driver and an operator of a nuclear power plant falling asleep, threatening public safety, have been reported.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the