World Sleep Day: Creating Awareness Against Poor Sleeping Pattern

Marie Etoile N. is about 30 years old. She has a bizarre sleeping pattern. According to health experts, a woman of her age is required to sleep for 7-9 hours a day. But Marie barely sleeps for four hours each day. She blames this on her work load which causes her to be in the office during hours she had programmed as “bed time.” Normally, Marie Etoile goes to bed at 10:00 pm, to be awake by 5:00 am. But, because she is in the office sometimes at 10:00 pm, this has greatly distorted her sleeping pattern making it difficult for her to go to bed on time. In such a situation, she has succeeded to catch some sleep only after midnight. Before she could realise that she is asleep, she is already awake. Looking at the watch, the time is usually 3:00 am. From 3:00 am to 5:00 am, Marie can barely sleep. The weird sleeping style of Marie who seems not to have any emotional problem is felt by many Cameroonians for various reasons. While some people have lots of work to carryout, making it impossible for them to respect the required sleeping hours, others say they cannot just sleep because the weight of their problems causes them to think more about solutions, instead of sleeping as required.

Tina Augusta is a working class nursing mother with two other kids who are below 10 years. To say Tina has a sleeping pattern will be an overstatement. According to her, she sleeps whenever she feels like sleeping. This is usually during the day when her baby is asleep and the others have gone to school. But when she is on duty at her job side, Tina says sleeping for up to four fours is a luxurious offer for her. Tina goes to bed after midnight because she has to nurse her baby late into the night. Later, she is up before 5:00 am because she has to prepare her kids for school as well as herself for work. Such is the ordeal of many nursing mothers.