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American Morning

Changed in a Moment: Insomnia Has Haunted Many in Past Three Weeks

Aired October 04, 2001 - 09:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Searching the debris sites in New York and at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania has been difficult enough, but for some rescuers, going home to sleep doesn't erase the horrible scenes they've faced every day. Insomnia has haunted many workers, and I know insomnia has probably haunted many of you out there who have watched this over the last three weeks.

For some insight, we are joined by Dr. Barry Krakow of the Center for Sleep Medicine and Nightmare Treatment in Albuquerque. He's the author of "Insomnia Cures."

Doctor, can you hear me? Dr. Krakow, are you with us?

Apparently Dr. Krakow can't hear us right now. But doctors are telling me, Miles, one of the number one complaints across the country right now is people not being able to get back to normal sleep pattern.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Awful lot of nightmares. You know, you don't have to have been in lower Manhattan. Of course we all experienced this through television, and many people are reporting this same thing, and I think what people also do, is they wake up from nightmare, and they, you know, are desperate to get rest, and get in this cycle where they have insomnia.

ZAHN: And I can confirm right now, Dr. Krakow is not asleep. He is having some trouble hearing me. And when we get that connection up and running, we will interview him, because, you know, I've got to tell you, I think last night was the first night since this happened I was able to string more than four hours of sleep together. And I know in talking to friend -- let's see, Dr. Krakow, can you hear me now?

DR. BARRY KRAKOW, SLEEP SPECIALIST: Hi, Paula.

ZAHN: Oh welcome. Thanks you very much for joining us. Thanks for your patience, sir.

Miles and I were just talking about a couple of doctors I've spoken with, who were saying that the number one complaint they're getting from patients is they simply can't sleep. But we're not necessarily talking about workers who have gone to the debris field. We're talking about Americans who have witnessed this catastrophe on TV and newspapers, and they're very shattered by it. Any advice for them?

KRAKOW: Well, it's very common to have a sleep problem after this type of traumatic exposure. In fact, it's almost unnatural to not have sleep problems. The mind and the body are on high alert. And as such, there's really not a strong desire, or a natural desire to sleep. In fact, that's one of the biggest reasons why people get into a vicious cycle that will worsen the insomnia. It's by actually trying to sleep when you're body is so primed to be able -- you know, to handle emergencies as it were, that it will make the problem worse.

And so what's most important here is to consider that sleep quality is the value that you're looking for, not sleep quantity. The number of hours are really not that important in this type of acute phase, process. What's really needed is that you have to recognize that you are going to be sleeping less during this time and, therefore, if you are going to be sleeping less, then alter your schedule appropriately, and often that will eliminate insomnia in many cases.

ZAHN: Now some of your patients may be further removed in other parts of country. I mean, clearly people living on the East Coast at this point probably feel a little bit more vulnerable. What kind of complaints are you getting?

KRAKOW: Well, we're hearing from -- in our programs, we work with crime victims, and people have reported that because of their own post-traumatic stress syndromes, the happening on the East Coast have worsened their symptoms. Of course, they talk about insomnia, nightmares and very complex sleep problems, and we would expect that people in New York -- I've spoken to a few researchers and other sleep physicians out in New York, in particular, and you know, they're suffering from a very complex sleep disturbance, including nightmares and insomnia.

ZAHN: So once again, your advice is, you know surrender to what your body is telling you. If your body is telling you it's time to get up at 2:00 in the morning, then don't lie in bed and look at the clock and be frustrated, get up and do something?

KRAKOW: Right, there's a few things a person can do that will usually anchor their sleep during a time of this sort. One is to set a wake-up time that is standard, but don't worry about the bedtime. Another is to get some morning sunshine. Those two things will help anchor one's biological clock.

But the other two points you mentioned, as far as lying awake in bed, ruminating and thinking about how much sleep I'm supposed to be getting and trying to look at a clock and figure that out, that fragments one's sleep, it makes the sleep quality turn very poor, and when you go in that direction, then you worsen the insomnia.

ZAHN: I don't know whether you realize this, doctor, but you are making a house call for me. I think last night as the first night I was able to sleep past four hours. This isn't about me, of course. Let's talk, too, about the complaints you're getting from parents of children who have been horrified by this. KRAKOW: I'm glad you brought that up.

ZAHN: What do you say to those parents? Yes, what should they do for their kids?

KRAKOW: Well, I think there's two things to think about. One, of course, is the problem of disturbing dreams. And you know, with the techniques that you and I have talked about in 1992 in an interview, we use this imagery technique, and it's very useful. The children adapt to it very quickly. You simply offer them the suggestion to change the nightmare, or the disturbing dream any way they want to and then rehearse the new images, so it's very reasonable to do that. Then the other problem is, with respect to children's sleep, is children's sleep in this instance is very much disturbed by parents' problems with sleep, and parents' problems with sleep, and parent's problems with this sleep in this acute phase may be a function of not having resolved the emotional stresses having to do with this very overwhelming traumatic exposure.

So I think it's very important for parents and children to talk about what they feel, and it's very important for children to hear this from their parents, because if parents try to hide it from their children, their children will pick it up, and this will create tension in them and produce further insomnia.

ZAHN: One last question for you, doctor. How long can people expect their sleep habits to be disrupted because of what happened on September 11th?

KRAKOW: Very good question. It's going to be different for different people, of course. But the acute phase is what we're now sort of coming to an end to. And over the next four to eight weeks, we can expect that many people should see some resolution. But of course it depends upon your circumstances. If things do not resolve during this next month, I just want to recommend that there are many sleep centers throughout the United States, and they have a great deal to offer individual who are having sleep problems of this sort.

ZAHN: All right, Dr. Krakow, thanks for your wealth of information. We appreciate you joining us this morning. Sorry you couldn't hear at the top of interview, but we're glad we got that hooked up finally the right way.

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