How many hours of sleep did you get last night? Was it enough? And how are you feeling today? Are you feeling tired? Results from the 2019 Philips Global Sleep Survey show that 62% of people worldwide feel that they are not sleeping well. Sleep is an essential part of our lives, just like food and water. However, it is too often undervalued and an alarming number of us consider it to be a luxury as opposed to a necessity. The productivity culture of today’s society has given us a false impression that sleep is a waste of time or that sleeping less is something to be proud of. Although it might feel like sleep simply rests our bodies when we get tired, it also plays a critical role in both our physical health and cognitive functions. Sleep deprivation has a number of negative effects on just about every aspect of our lives and can even be deadly.
Most adults require between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. Teenagers require even more, needing between eight and ten hours. In reality, barely any of us are hitting the hay for long enough. A large proportion of people worldwide are not sleeping well and studies show that more than a third of us here in New Zealand are sleeping for less than the recommended seven hours each night. These statistics are concerning because not getting enough sleep is linked to many problems such as negative effects on our health. Sleep deficiency increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, depression, and immunity impairment. Along with this, evidence suggests that sleep deprivation can also affect our genes. While sometimes lack of sleep might not present itself in its extremities, often those who are sleep deprived may become more susceptible to things such as the common cold or flu. This shows that sleep deprivation can damage our physical health in both the short term and the long term. The teenage years are a crucially important period of life as the body undergoes many significant changes and developments, but statistics show that teenagers, just like the rest of the population, are not getting enough sleep. This is commonly due to having to balance an increase in things like school work and extracurricular activities, which is an issue that I can regularly see in my friends, the people around me and myself. As a student, I experience this struggle first hand because it’s not easy trying to get everything done whilst simultaneously sustaining a good sleep schedule. However, during these years, sleep is absolutely vital for maintaining physical health and well-being as a considerable amount of physical development occurs during this time. It allows for a healthy immune system, the regulation of hormones, growth and muscle/tissue repair. Moreover, an association between lack of sleep in adolescents and problems with metabolism has been established, and these problems can go on to increase the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular problems later in life.
Sleep not only affects our physical health, it can also affect our brain functions and abilities. It allows for our thoughts from the day to be processed and our memories to be stored and consolidated which is important for acquiring new information and learning efficiently. Without sufficient sleep we lose our ability to access previously gained knowledge. This suggests that it is equally important to get a good amount of sleep both before and after learning new information, which is why when I learn new pieces for piano or need to memorise formulas for maths, I find it much easier to do so and retain this information when I have had enough sleep and avoid trying to practise too late at night. Along with this, sleep deprivation can also lead to difficulty concentrating and being able to think clearly which shows why staying up late or pulling an all-nighter to cram the night before an exam isn't such a great idea as it could serve to be much more trouble than it's worth. As sleep deprivation continues, attention, memory, and other cognitive functions deteriorate and so consequently performance at school or work could go downhill. It can also impair our judgement and mean feeling more irritable and tired during the day which can therefore make us moody and increase conflicts with others.
In our productive and fast paced society, many people consider getting as little sleep as possible an advantage. The busyness of our lives means that there is just so much we try to fit into each day, causing us to cut down on sleep time in an attempt to get more things done. Yet almost all sleep researchers say that most people need at least seven or eight hours of sleep for our health and that getting enough sleep will boost productivity. There is a glaring contradiction between what the messages in today’s society say about sleep and what we hear from scientists that just doesn’t add up. While it is true that short sleepers, people that can function as normal with six or less hours of sleep, do exist, they are far less common than people often think, making up only three percent or less of the population. Famous short sleepers like Thomas Edison, Barack Obama, Margaret Thatcher and Bill Clinton cause society to think that in order to be successful, we should strive to get as little sleep as possible. This leads to many people not sleeping enough because they're working, but they're not working efficiently because they're not sleeping enough, and this creates an unhealthy cycle that gets increasingly difficult to overcome.
Furthermore, something as simple as getting a good night’s sleep can save a life. Lack of sleep can cause lapses of attention and our reaction time to slow down which increases the risk of car accidents. Drowsy driving is an alarming problem, causing about 100,000 car accidents every year, and 1,500 deaths. Drowsy driving is extremely dangerous even if you don’t actually fall asleep. Studies show that sleep deprivation can have mental impairments very similar to drinking too much alcohol. Being awake for at least 24 hours is roughly equivalent to having a blood alcohol level of 100 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood. That’s double the legal limit! To prevent drowsy driving, drivers should ensure they have had enough sleep and are not too tired before driving. Signs of drowsy driving include frequent yawning, tired eyes, drifting into other lanes and missing road signs or exits. It is important that these signs are taken very seriously as they are a warning that you are too drowsy to drive and a danger to yourself and others if you continue. When we think about it in this way, sleep deprivation can become a deadly weapon so it is our responsibility to ensure the safety of ourselves and others by getting enough sleep before driving.
It is critical that people place a greater importance on sleep because it affects our physical health, cognitive functions and lack of it can be life-threatening in the form of drowsy driving. Given the widespread lack of sleep among people in the world, greater awareness about the harms of sleep deprivation and drowsy driving can play an important role in preventing both the deterioration of our health and road incidents.* Like many other things, getting more sleep is easier said than done. However, there are some small steps we can take that will help. Using phones and devices before going to bed, drinking too much caffeine in the late afternoon or evening and eating too much too close to bedtime are examples of poor sleep hygiene and can mess with your sleep schedule. Putting a stop to these habits is the best way to get your sleep back on track. Sleep is what builds the foundations to allow us to work efficiently and succeed in our endeavours and when it is disrupted we will often find that just like dominos, the other aspects of our lives can start to crumble and fall as well. The damaging yet alarmingly underestimated repercussions of sleep deprivation has the tendency to sneak up on us so that by the time we realise what has happened, it is already too late. Therefore, we should always be conscientiously aiming to get enough sleep whenever possible. So with all that being said, do yourself a favour tonight; turn in early and finally get a good night’s sleep.
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