There's an interesting article this week in the New York Times that talks about a recent study done to determine how many hours of sleep people actually need to function throughout the week. Since I'm sure some of us are probably not getting 8 hours of sleep each night, I figured this article would apply perfectly to us.
In a study done by David Dinges from the University of Pennslyvania, dozens of people were assigned various hours of sleep for each night (4 hours, 6 hours, and 8 hours) and then tested using the "psychomotor viligance task", which is a fancy term for a test used to measure people's response times. The study showed that those in the 4 hour and 6 hour brackets not only showed lowered scores than those with 8 hours of sleep, they became progressively lower as the week went on. This means that even if you are getting just 6 hours of sleep, your body isn't capable of successfully adapting to this change. Essentially you can't just "get used to it", like so many people would like to think they can do.
The article then compares this study to one done where people were only allowed to sleep for 7 hours. Even after this much sleep, people's reactiveness decreased and decreased even more so over time. The article has a great quote that says, "Americans average 6.9 hours on weeknights, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Which means that, whether we like it or not, we are not thinking as clearly as we could be."
This is why sleep is so important to public health. Not getting the correct amount of sleep affects everything from stress levels and cardiac health to proper decision making and clear thinking. Seeing that so much of public health is about making healthy decisions, there should be a real push to make sure people are getting enough sleep to want to make these decisions. It's pretty easy to visualize. I know that when I'm tired the last thing I want to do is go to the rec center, and the first thing I want to do is eat some Fusz pizza and then take a nap.
If America can begin to shape its culture in a way that encourages a full night's rest every night, the health benefits could be enormous. Yet doing this is clearly not easy task. Can you think of any ways that might get people to just go to bed?
I completely agree with everything this article is saying. A lack of sufficient sleep not only impairs cognitive ability, but also dramatically weakens the immune system, can accelerate tumor growth in cancerous patients, causes pre-diabetic states in which your body feels hungry even if you just ate, can impair your memory, and your ability to problem solve. Not enough sleep can also play a role in heart disease, stomach ulcers, constipation, and mood swings/depression. I do not know of any ideas to encourage people to get to bed earlier, however there are different things people can do to get higher quality sleep. One such example is to create a bedtime pattern. You should go to bed and wake up the same time every day, even on weekends. This helps your body get into a sleep rhythm, making it easier and quicker to fall asleep on time. People should also avoid caffeine, alcohol, or drugs before bed. In addition, exercising for at least 30 min/day can improve sleep.
ReplyDeleteI love what Rebecca said, because so many people think that the problems associated with not getting enough sleep can be altered just by having caffeine, or aren't any worse that just functioning a little bit slower or not being able to focus. In fact, chronic sleep deprivation can lead to things as varied as heart disease to increased vehicle accidents as a result of inattention.
ReplyDeleteThe difficult thing about sleep though is that it's not something that can be regulated or mandated in any way, which forces a creative solution. I think that one of the best ways to get people to sleep more is simply to spread awareness of sleep-related facts. More adults would take the issue of sleep seriously if they knew that in addition to feeling a bit more groggy, they were also putting themselves at risk for things like heart disease.
Another challenge is that people's perceptions of sleep can differ substantially from reality. I know that I did Relay for Life last night and I thought that I was entirely fine until it ended at 5:30 a.m. and I got back to my dorm and literally couldn't figure out how to open my door because I was so tired. Again, telling people about how serious the problem can be is the only way to try to get them to see a problem that they could otherwise easily ignore.
It seems to me that a lack of sleep--like most other behavior-related health issues--is a dangerous trap. As mentioned in the article, not getting enough sleep leads to lower productivity which may lead to the feeling that one needs to work longer and get even less sleep. It is very hard to not give in to the sleep-deprived way of life on a college campus, but at the least it seems as though we need to start treating sleep as more of a necessity and less of an expendable luxury.
ReplyDeleteWe have all seen how difficult behavior changes can be even when we have time to discuss the challenges, help and support each other, and be encouraged to work on a specific area. How can we begin to fix this problem when society is encouraging us to sleep less and do more? We are told by professors, parents, bosses, etc. how much more time we need to spend studying or working to succeed. In addition, we are taught to exercise, pray and find time to relax. Before a change can occur in regard to sleep habits, our entire culture is going to need to start encouraging others to sleep more, meaning do less. I think this is a very serious issue with very few solutions.
ReplyDeleteWow. I am really glad I chose to take a look at this article!!! This semester I signed up for 9 AM classes. I am now getting about 7 hours of sleep a night, and I have often found myself saying, "Oh, I'll get used to it eventually." However, it appears that I am wrong. I find myself having to drink much more caffeine during the day, and I have also noticed that studying for long periods of time becomes difficult more quickly than last semester when I got 8 or more hours of sleep per night. I really need to start sleeping earlier!!! Thanks for the article!
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