When was the last time you enjoyed a full eight hours of sleep? If it was recently, consider yourself lucky. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as much as 19 percent of the U.S. adult population is sleep deprived.
If you think that’s no big deal, think again. To spread awareness of chronic sleep deprivation and the negative effects it can have on our health, the National Sleep Foundation observes National Sleep Awareness Week every March to help more people understand the importance of getting an adequate number of Zs. The observance begins on the first Sunday of Daylight Savings Time—when countless individuals bemoan losing an hour of precious shut-eye—and runs through the following Saturday. This year’s dates are March 8 through 14, and it just might be a good time for you and your family to reflect on some of your sleeping habits.
Are You Getting Enough?
Getting enough sleep ranks right up there with eating right and exercising regularly—you have to do it for your body to function at its best. The National Sleep Foundation recommends between seven and nine hours of sleep every night. Older adults can get away with less, whereas young adults and teenagers need a little bit more. Some people believe they can train their bodies to operate sufficiently on less sleep, but the CDC emphasizes that this is a myth.
Sleep is important because it’s a state when important processes happen in your body, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. It’s a time when the body releases hormones that help children grow and adults build muscle and repair cells. It’s also when the body creates cytokines, the hormone necessary for the immune system to fight infection.
Missing out on sleep hinders you from thinking clearly and reacting quickly, which would prevent you from meeting your full potential either at your job or at school. In fact, the National Sleep Foundation estimates that between sickness and lost productivity, sleep deprivation costs the United States about $66 billion every year.
Sleep deprivation has long-term effects on health too. People who are chronically sleep deprived face a higher risk of conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Sleep Debt: What’s That?
You might have heard about something called sleep debt, which is exactly what it sounds like. You accrue an amount of lost sleep over time and you have to compensate for it at some point.
The scientific explanation behind this is that a chemical called adenosine accumulates in your bloodstream while you’re awake only to be broken down by the body when you’re sleeping. If there’s too much adenosine built up in your bloodstream, your body’s response time slows.
You therefore need to make up for the sleep you missed if your body is going to break down the adenosine, the National Sleep Foundation says, but that can be difficult to do if you’re consistently missing out on rest. Think about losing an hour of sleep every weeknight—that means you have to make up five hours on Saturday and Sunday. And sleeping in can then throw off your sleep cycle come Sunday night.
That’s not the worst part. If you miss two or three hours of sleep a night for three or four nights in a row, that’s the same as missing a full night’s sleep. Even though most people have pulled an all-nighter at some point in their lives, they might not consider how dangerous it can be in some situations.
Drowsy driving can be just as bad as drunk driving. Per the CDC, as many as 6,000 fatalities every year are a result of sleepy people behind the wheel.
How to Improve Sleep
The big problem is that people get busy—they have jobs, classes, homework, chores, errands, volunteer efforts, and social obligations. Sleep is usually the first thing they’ll cut back on when life gets to be too much.
In other situations, people have trouble falling asleep. They feel exhausted all day long, but as soon as they crawl into bed, their mind keeps them wide awake.
If you’re somebody who fails to make sleep a priority or who struggles to fall into a deep slumber at the end of the day, there are a few ways experts recommend you can make it easier on yourself:
- Start examining your habits before bedtime. Don’t nap late in the afternoon, and avoid nicotine, caffeine, and large meals late at night.
- Although exercise is good for destressing and tiring yourself out, it’s best to do it earlier in the day, as late-night workouts could potentially wind you up.
- Before bed, avoid bright lights, including those from screens like your phone or TV.
- Lower the temperature in your bedroom to around 68 degrees.
- Take a warm bath or shower. Once you get out of the warm water, the drop in body temperature will make you feel sleepy.
- Read or listen to soothing music before bed in lieu of watching TV or scrolling through your phone.
- When it’s time to finally turn out the lights, try earplugs or white noise, such as a fan, to drown out any background sounds. Avoid inconsistent noise, such as that from a TV or radio, which can disrupt your sleep.
- If the pressure to fall asleep stresses you out, turn your alarm clock the other way to avoid looking at it.
However, if you know that 20 minutes have gone by and you can’t fall asleep, don’t force yourself—get up and do something relaxing. Stress about sleep can make this situation even worse.
Remember that occasional insomnia is normal and something most people experience from time to time. But if it happens three nights a week for more than a month, it is considered chronic insomnia. In this situation, talk with your doctor about ways you might be able to alleviate your sleeplessness.
