sleep disorders, a nightmare for one in five French people

70% of French people say they have sleep problems. It even became a nightmare for Stevy Poilly, 25 years old. He sleeps an average of four hours a night, six with multiple sleeping pills. A month ago, he decided to stop everything. “It’s not a life to take drugs to sleep“, he said. For ten years, he has not found sleep, without really knowing why. On his phone, there are about thirty prescriptions, all related to this problem.

His short nights are not without consequences, especially for his couple. Because at night, the slightest noise disturbs him, he can no longer sleep with his companion. A problem that the young man cannot solve. His last hope: consult a sleep clinic, where insomnia and sleep apnea are the most common pathologies, affecting one in five French people. “We must explore sleep patterns“, says Antoine Leotard, specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Raymond Poincaré hospital in Garches (AP-HP). Lack of sleep can have serious health effects. In particular, it increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.