You would think the country is in the grip of an insomnia epidemic given the rising popularity of sleep drugs. Over the last five years, the use of hypnotics has increased by an astonishing 60 percent, according to IMS Health, a research company.

Is the state of sleep in America really that bad?

Disturbed sleep has to be one of the most common complaints in medicine. Not only patients but the general public seems to have a cherished notion of what constitutes a normal night's sleep: seven to eight blissful hours of uninterrupted slumber.

Many patients tell me they have a sleep problem because they wake up in the middle of the night for a time, typically 45 minutes to an hour, but fall uneventfully back to sleep. Curiously, there seems to be no consequence to this "problem." They are unaffected during the day and have plenty of energy and concentration to go about their lives.

Being a psychiatrist, I am always on the lookout for illnesses like depression, anxiety disorders and drug or alcohol abuse that could easily produce sleep disturbance.