Sleeping isn’t just a luxury. In fact, sleep plays as important a role for your body as does food and water. So what does it mean to deprive the body of this essential function?
The National Institute of Health says that, to maintain good overall health, adults should aim to get between seven and nine hours of sleep per night to maintain performance.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 30 percent of adults have reported getting less than six hours of sleep per night. And since chronic sleep loss is defined as getting between four and seven hours of sleep a night, nearly one in three Americans are characterized as chronically sleep deprived.
“The lack of awareness that you have a sleep problem can really compound the consequences because so many people remain undiagnosed for years,” said Dr. Ike Means, a primary care physician at Wishard Health Services.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep reported that chronic short sleepers have forgotten what it feels like to be well-rested. Although they may function at a normal rate for the first few hours after waking up, responsiveness will decrease as the day wears on. And evidence indicates that a person who regularly sleeps less than seven hours a night functions as poorly as someone who hasn’t slept for one to three days.
Serious and long-term effects such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, heart failure, stroke, memory impairment and a weakened immune system have all been associated with individuals who get too little sleep at night. Also, Dr. Means said the less sleep you get the less responsive your body becomes, significantly decreasing reaction time and increasing the chance of accidents and other errors to occur.
However, it’s not always insomnia or disruptive sleep behaviors that contribute to undisciplined sleep patterns. The problem may simply be bad sleeping habits.
There are several methods doctors recommend to get you back on track:
• Need to catch up on sleep? Try adding an hour a day to your sleep cycle. Doctors recommend catching up slowly and not sleeping in an additional four hours one day a week.
• Know you’re going to have a rough week? Snooze a little longer the week before to counter-act the sleep you will lose. But remember, don’t vary your sleep time by more than 60 minutes so as not to throw off your internal clock.
• Set a regularly-scheduled bedtime and wake-up time to maintain balance.
• Limit fluid intake at night if you find yourself waking up to use the restroom in the middle of the night.
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bedtime. Alcohol will limit your body’s ability to enter into a deep sleep.
• Lastly, try and clear your mind before bed. Professionals recommend writing your thoughts down at night, telling your body you’ll deal with whatever problems you may have tomorrow.
If you continue to experience problems with sleep, speak with your doctor about possible risk factors, or if you do not have a primary care physician, call Health Connection at Wishard at (317) 655-2255.
