Medical experts say that sleeplessness causes a number of complications among patients as well as among healthy persons. Sleeplessness may cause serious complications among patients suffering from stomach-related problems, hypertension and heart-related problems while general population may face stress-related physical and mental disorders.

The loadshedding at night certainly causes disturbance making a huge proportion of population unable to have sound sleep, which is necessary for almost all body organs to function properly. People are facing at least 4-hour electricity loadshedding at night for nearly two weeks.

Medical experts say that the number of patients with stomach-related problems and hypertension is on the rise because of the unrest among population due to spending sleepless nights. “The sleeplessness may deteriorate health of a normal person within a month,” said Dr. Sohail Tariq, a medical expert, while talking to ‘The News’ on Tuesday.

He added that the unrest at night highly affects recovery of a chronic patient while patients suffering from heart-related problems may face complications. “The sleeplessness disturbs badly the functioning of stomach and it may create new patients putting a huge burden on the healthcare facilities,” he said.

Most alarmingly, the unrest caused by the loadshedding at night is increasing psychological disorders among population by increasing level of stress, anger and aggression, said Head at the Institute of Psychiatry and WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, Research and Training at Benazir Bhutto Hospital Dr. Farid Aslam Minhas while talking to ‘The News’ on Tuesday.

He added that sleepless nights disturb sense of self-worth among general public that certainly lessens their productivity. The level of tolerance among population is also decreasing consistently mainly because of the unrest, which is a highly serious matter and needs immediate attention of the ‘rulers’.

Dr. Minhas said that an obvious expression of increasing stress, anger and intolerance among general public is violent protests across country. He added that the self-worth losing youth is participating in destructive activities with a justification based on false rationalisation for inhumane acts like burning of vehicles, train and buildings without thinking they may contain children and women.

Talking of the damages on long-term basis, he said, “As a nation, we are going down because our youth is unable to give proper time to their studies, the workers are unable to work productively in the offices and as a whole we are becoming unable to invest time with fresh minds in our relations in the already deteriorating eastern family structure in the country and it all may cause irreversible loss to the nation.” Dr. Minhas said that the unavailability of basic facilities has already caused 40 to 50 per cent increase in population across country seeking treatment on the subject of mental health. “It is time for those in power to take matter of loadshedding seriously, otherwise the whole nations would have to suffer the consequences,” he concluded.