X’s, O’s and not enough Z’s
Cam’s game plan, imitated by many, isn’t a winning one, medicos warn
Cam Newton isn’t alone when it comes to passing up sleep during the pandemic.
The Patriots QB said he’s logging about 5 hours a night, leaving for the stadium in Foxboro at 4:30 a.m. and hitting the sack at 11:30 p.m.
He says it’s for his job, but experts agree the pandemic along with soaring unemployment rates is leaving countless people tossing and turning.
“Everybody is worried about everything,” said Anthony Andreottola, director of the Father Mychal Judge Recovery Center at Saint Anthony Shrine Boston.
“Everything is intensified during the pandemic,” he told the Herald. “No matter how hard you work, some people are worried if their company is doing well. The first casualty is sleep.”
Newton, who has struggled all season with COVID19 and the underwhelming Patriot offensive attack, said he’s working as hard as he can to lead the team. The Patriots at 6-9 are out of the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
Authorities warn that lack of sleep can have long-term consequences.
Dr. Sanford Auerbach, director of Boston Medical Center’s Sleep Lab, said sleep deprivation carry short-term and long-term risks.
“People who don’t sleep well don’t function as well during the day,” Auerbach said in a podcast for Boston University’s sleep lab. “You can be irritable … and there’s an increased risk of medical problems.”
He added you can also suffer from “restless legs syndrome … nightmare disorders … acting out your dreams” and cognitive issues later in life.
We’re all just “frazzled folks” these days, Andreottola said.
“The suggestions I give is now isn’t a good time to have an extra drink,” he said. “People are talking about lack of sleep a lot. But they’re also talking about having vivid dreams.”
It’s simply a difficult time to manage stress and sleep is becoming a casualty.
Dr. Claudio Toppelberg, a Harvard professor and Boston psychiatrist, said medication should be a “last resort.”
He also said 5 hours of sleep, if that’s Newton’s only real rest, is “not enough recovery time” for a professional athlete. Toppelberg, as others also mentioned, does not know all the quarterback is facing. But losing sleep in general is never good.
“Sleep is fundamental to face any situation. It’s necessary,” Toppelberg said, adding lack of sleep can also trigger “prior mental health issues.”
He also echoed others who say there’s enough stress points in society today to cause nightmares — from evictions, to the spread of the coronavirus, job security, food insecurity, vaccines and when you’ll be allowed in line and the health of loved ones.
That and try replacing the GOAT, Tom Brady.