OK OK, not quite as exotic sounding as Sleepless in Seattle (am I showing my age?!) but, here I am, in a hotel room near Stansted which I’m sharing with my two kids and, when he gets back from the party we were attending earlier, my husband too. And here’s the thing. I’ve had a really busy week, I’m absolutely shattered and the kids have clearly missed the memo that Mummy would REALLY love an early night. After all, if I can’t be at the party, then perhaps I can treat myself with some extra sleep?! Yes, as The Snoring Lady (and passionate sleep fanatic) I’m one of those precious few who openly recognise and extol the virtues of sleep. Hey, maybe I should get a T shirt with an appropriate slogan… but what would it say? “Keep calm I’ve had 8 hours?” The irony is that I know how important sleep is, yet, just like everyone else, I often will stay up later than my body wants as I ‘just’ want to watch that film or do that little extra piece of work. And I should know better! But I
It was sad to see in the news today that Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher died from sleep apnoea and “other causes” according to the Los Angeles coroner. However, her death certificate states she suffered a cardiac arrest, and in a statement the LA coroner said the exact cause was unknown. [1] For me, as someone passionate about raising awareness of the damage sleep apnoea can do, it is especially sad to hear that sleep apnoea was involved. But note, that even though sleep apnoea was listed as a cause of death [2] , it was not marked as such on the death certificate… because * sleep apnoea doesn’t normally kill people, but it exacerbates conditions, so undiagnosed/untreated sleep apnoea sufferers will die of stroke or heart attack, for example. My question then is does sleep apnoea not get the recognition, does it not have the level of awareness in the general public BECAUSE it is not listed as a cause of death? Imagine if the evening news stated that there had been a