Sleep. It’s something that everyone does, and we spend about a third of our lives doing it. However most people don’t think about it that much, or perhaps think they could be more productive without it, especially because so many people have no idea what goes on during sleep. Everyone agrees that getting less than optimal sleep feels terrible the next day, but sleep deprivation is still a chronic problem. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 30 percent of American adults are sleeping six or fewer hours a day, which is significantly under the recommended 7-9 hours for adults by the National Sleep Foundation. There are an infinite number of articles and studies that tell you how to sleep better; turn off your electronics,
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Many people believe that when those immediate symptoms of sleep deprivation are no longer noticeable, there is not damage being done to your body and brain. This is incorrect. Sleep deprivation also has long term effects on your brain and body functioning. These include immune system suppression, as one study (Prather, Janicki-Deverts, Hall, and Cohen, 2015) concluded that only getting 6 hours of sleep per night over a week increased a subject’s susceptibility to the common cold. It also lowers control and awareness over your posture (Furtado, et al., 2016), and your brain’s ability for emotion, as shown by a study (Guadagni, Burles, Ferrara, and Iaria, 2014) that showed lower abilities for emotional processing and empathy when chronically tired. These three studies, plus countless more, strongly show that sleep is vital to our functioning and survival as human beings, and the seemingly unconnected failures that can occur with even an hour less of sleep per …show more content…
However many people, including an estimated 70 million Americans, however, have cognitive or brain imbalances that cause chronic sleep disorders. There are 80 different types of sleep disorders, that obstruct restful sleep and cause daytime drowsiness and trouble functioning. The most common, and important ones are insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, and narcolepsy. Sleep disorders are diagnosed with a sleep study, which is then analyzed by a physician to determine if the patient has a sleep disorder. Sleep studies take a person into a lab, hooks them up to monitors, and tracks their sleeping patterns in order to diagnose abnormalities. Insomnia is characterized by trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Half of adults will experience insomnia at some point in their lives, however it is diagnosed as chronic when a person has difficulty sleeping for three nights per week or more every week for a month or more. Insomnia has many possible causes, from bodily pain, to anxiety or depression, to excessive caffeine usage to work schedule. Insomnia is particularly dangerous because if a mental illness is not the cause of insomnia, insomnia and the prolonged exhaustion that accompanies it, could cause depression (Liqing, et al., 2016). Sleep apnea is a
Many people believe that when those immediate symptoms of sleep deprivation are no longer noticeable, there is not damage being done to your body and brain. This is incorrect. Sleep deprivation also has long term effects on your brain and body functioning. These include immune system suppression, as one study (Prather, Janicki-Deverts, Hall, and Cohen, 2015) concluded that only getting 6 hours of sleep per night over a week increased a subject’s susceptibility to the common cold. It also lowers control and awareness over your posture (Furtado, et al., 2016), and your brain’s ability for emotion, as shown by a study (Guadagni, Burles, Ferrara, and Iaria, 2014) that showed lower abilities for emotional processing and empathy when chronically tired. These three studies, plus countless more, strongly show that sleep is vital to our functioning and survival as human beings, and the seemingly unconnected failures that can occur with even an hour less of sleep per …show more content…
However many people, including an estimated 70 million Americans, however, have cognitive or brain imbalances that cause chronic sleep disorders. There are 80 different types of sleep disorders, that obstruct restful sleep and cause daytime drowsiness and trouble functioning. The most common, and important ones are insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, and narcolepsy. Sleep disorders are diagnosed with a sleep study, which is then analyzed by a physician to determine if the patient has a sleep disorder. Sleep studies take a person into a lab, hooks them up to monitors, and tracks their sleeping patterns in order to diagnose abnormalities. Insomnia is characterized by trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Half of adults will experience insomnia at some point in their lives, however it is diagnosed as chronic when a person has difficulty sleeping for three nights per week or more every week for a month or more. Insomnia has many possible causes, from bodily pain, to anxiety or depression, to excessive caffeine usage to work schedule. Insomnia is particularly dangerous because if a mental illness is not the cause of insomnia, insomnia and the prolonged exhaustion that accompanies it, could cause depression (Liqing, et al., 2016). Sleep apnea is a