Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Farouqui, a physician pursuing neurology and sleep medicine in the United States also does different experiments from time to time.
His interest in making people aware of sleeplessness or insomnia started with his first blog on the subject of sleeping pills in 2013. He also started using Twitter and social media platforms to reach a larger audience.
It became his mission to help people suffering from insomnia and has been working jointly with Salem, a photographer who started his agency in 2012. The collaboration resulted from the mutual interest they both had in social networking and public relations.
Although sleeplessness is a common problem it can differ from one person to another. It could result from something as simple as drinking too much caffeine during the day or something more complex like an underlying medical condition or stress.
“We realized that people react very well to social experiments. In order to draw their attention to the lack of sleep, we created a funny story about a rat whose behavior we had studied carefully. The rat had stayed awake for 10 days and finally died of depression. In fact, we dedicated the short documentary to its soul,” said Dr. Al-Farouqui.
Then Dr. Al-Farouqui decided to experiment on himself. He was awake for 85 hours and was monitored by a group of friends who observed the symptoms of sleeplessness and what harm it could cause the body. Blood tests were taken every morning to notice body changes and to see the worst effects of continuously staying awake over a period of time without giving rest to the brain.
If a person experiences sleeplessness for 2 hours everyday for a week, it equals 14 hours of staying awake.
Dr. Al-Farouqui had to be awake and at the same time be a part of the experiment. Salem said that they had to make two teams: One was the production team who managed to capture every moment during the 85 hours and another team to ensure that Dr. Al-Farouqui stayed awake. There was also a paramedic at hand to help with any health issues.
The most important concerns at the beginning of the experiment were the medical and production costs. “We got some support from a friend who let us stay at his hotel (AlRawasi Hotel) for the entire period of the production and the medical costs were taken care of by the International Medical Center,” said Dr. Al-Farouqui adding that they did their best to keep the production costs as low as they could.
Among his friends were Salem Al-Homsi the photographer, Ahellah Al-Khatib, Ekleel Al-Azm and Yaser Qarut who documented his experiment working in shifts. They kept me awake the whole night and in fact they did a great job in helping me to complete my hours,” Dr. Al-Farouqui said.
The good news is that most cases of insomnia can be cured with slight changes in your lifestyle without having to rely on sleep specialists or turning to prescriptions or over-the-counter sleeping pills.
We spoke to Dr. Al-Farouqui to learn more about his experiment.
Why did you choose to stay awake for 85 hours and not less?
I was trying to prove the importance of sleeping and the harms of staying awake. There is no specific reason for the 85-hour duration. I first intended to stay up for 80 hours but then decided to make it for as long as I could.
What inspired you to do this experiment?
I noticed that staying awake has become a part of everyone’s lifestyle in Jeddah. In fact, people, especially the youth, in other cities also stay up all night and sleep during the day. What they do not know is that the body functions better when they sleep at night.
Do you think the phenomenon is more common in men than in women?
Both genders don’t sleep well. In fact, housewives get very little sleep at night.
Generally, it is believed that insomnia is more common in the elderly. What do you think?
Actually, the elderly sleep less than the youth. They sleep for 7 hours only.
Why do the youth sleep less?
One of the most important reasons is social media and social networking. They stay up on twitter, face book and other social apps for hours.
Does depression cause sleepless nights or is it the other way round?
It works both ways. However, it’s been proven that one of the best ways to treat depression is to sleep well.
What is the ratio in today’s generation with regard to late night sleep?
There is no specific study on sleep patterns in Saudi Arabia. It’s a very new field of research in this country. However, a research done by Dr. Siraj Wali on the subject will be published very soon.
What vital disorder can chronic insomnia cause? And what is the major cause of insomnia according to your experiment?
Chronic insomnia is the inability to sleep 8 hours daily for more than three weeks. People who sleep less than eight have greater chances of diabetes later in life. Their weight might also be affected. Therefore, they should seek help from sleep physicians.
Why do some people face difficulty falling asleep despite being tired?
There are a lot of reasons including psychological problems, physical illnesses such as hyperthyroidism and others.
Can you shed some light on frequently waking up during the night?
Caffeine in coffee or tea is one of the main causes for interrupted sleep but it’s normal to wake up for one or two minutes during the night. People don’t usually remember the next morning. However, waking up too many times will leave you exhausted. Other reasons could be having pets sleeping in bed with you, acid reflux and vitamin deficiency or drug use for medicinal purposes such as steroids to control asthma, hypertensive drugs or heart problems. Some pain relievers can lead to sleep apnea and wake you up several times during the night. Pain, even if it is mild can keep you awake. Headaches or menstrual pain are some examples.
Why do some people have problems getting back to sleep once they have woken up?
If it’s not age or disease, it could be external factors such as a well lit room; light decreases melatonin, the sleep hormone. It could also be a sleep disorder; many sleep orders go undiagnosed.
Using sleeping pills or alcohol to induce sleep is a serious problem. What do you suggest?
Sleeping pills are addictive. Most people take antihistamines, cough syrups or anti-depressants to sleep and later they can’t sleep without taking these drugs. Moreover, they also have side effects. For example, some antidepressants cause sexual dysfunction.
Some people sleep for very few hours during the night but get up early in the morning. How do you justify this?
Different people have different sleep patterns. However, they normally fall into these ranges: 90% of people sleep for 8 hours; 5% sleep for more than 10%; 5% sleep for less than 6hours.
If it doesn’t happen on a daily basis, you can’t say that you sleep for less than 8 hours a day. This needs to be calculated for a week.
In spite of sleeping at night, why do some people still face daytime drowsiness, fatigue, or irritability?
If you sleep for less than 8 hours, the body will want to sleep more the next day and the day after to compensate for the lack of sleep. That’s why people have jetlag because the different time zones across the world affect the night time sleeping hours of the body. However, there is a big difference in being exhausted and being sleepy. Naps should not exceed for more than 15-30 minutes.
What is the next experiment you wish to try?
I have many in my mind. The one I really want to do is about shisha (water pipe) and smoking.
What message do you wish to give our readers from a doctor’s point of view and that of a common man?
I advise them not to change their bedtimes over the weekends, and to stop drinking coffee at least 8 hours before bedtime. Sometimes, you feel sleepy after drinking coffee because of the amount of sugar intake in the coffee. If you wake up with a headache most mornings, visit a sleep physician.
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