Sleep: Why It’s Imperative That You Have Plenty

Regular sleep is one of the few really crucial human functions. Just as important as nourishment, humans need sleep for survival. Sleep is needed even more often than food. Getting too little sleep has been shown to create a shorter life span. Too little sleep can also cause a lowering of the immune system, memory problems, poor moods and a lower temperature. Extreme states of sleep deprivation can lead to hallucinations, sickness and even death.

On average, most adults need about eight hours of sleep. Children are recommended more sleep, which changes with their age. Growth hormones are released while children sleep. Getting less sleep means less hormone and not reaching full height. Children not getting their recommended amount of sleep also may have a poor performance in school.

Because the immune system is depressed, illnesses often occur. Heart disease, a particularly serious illness, is a consequence of sleeping too little. Chronically sleeping too little causes high blood pressure. High blood pressure leads to a variety of other heart problems. The level of stress hormones in the body are also raised by a lack of sleep. The hormone levels create an increased appetite and force the body to store more carbohydrates as fat. The result is gaining extra abdominal fat. The risk of cancer is also lowered by getting enough sleep.

Various behaviors are greatly affected by not enough sleep. Test scores are superior for people who get more sleep. Sleep also positively affects the short term memory. Sleep makes it easier to access memories of new tasks. Concentration of every type requires the proper sleep. The performance needed for academic performance is greatly affected by sleep. Both verbal communications and math are affected by sleep levels.

Many tasks that don’t seem dangerous will become so for a person who has not slept long enough. Driving while drunk is as dangerous as driving while sleepy. Using machinery at all can be unsafe on little sleep. Slower reaction times happen when someone has not slept enough. Inappropriate sleep can occur when someone is excessively overtired. These small sleep microbursts last five to 10 seconds. During those seconds, injuries occur. In the United States, lack of sleep causes 71,000 injuries on the highways. Fatigue while driving causes about 1,500 highway deaths.

Every function of the body is dependent on sleep. Without the proper amount, both mind and body will suffer. Hormones that sleep helps to regulate allow us our alertness during the day. Missing even one hour of sleep can result in a loss of productiveness when it’s needed the most.