Mental Health Monday
In 1960 the average person got eight hours of sleep. Today the number has fallen to 6.7 hours. So what is sleep, and why do we need it? I have always been a big fan of sleep. I need a minimum of eight hours a night, any less and I feel groggy the rest of the day. If you spend eight hours a night sleeping you will sleep 1/3 of your life.
Not getting enough sleep can be detrimental to you in more then one way. One night of only 4-5 hours of sleep has affect on your attention, memory, alertness, reaction time, and the speed in which you think. It only takes 2 seconds to have a lapse, in driving a car at 60 miles an hour, to drift completely out of your lane, and you will be off the road in 4 seconds. The lapses are called “micro-sleeps”, and can even occur with your eyes open. The Exxon Valdez spill happened after midnight with a man at the helm who'd slept only four hours the night before. Don’t doze and operate heavy machinery, people.
There was a sleep study done where healthy, young patients were only allowed 4 hours of sleep for 6 nights. In just 6 nights many of the patients were already in a pre-diabetic state, and furthermore, they were hungry. There is a hormone in your brain called leptin, it tells your brain when you are full. The patients in the study showed a drop in their leptin levels, so they were hungry even though they had eaten plenty. Not enough sleep has been linked to obesity, as well as heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. Is not enough sleep fueling our obesity epidemic?
Have any of you ever feel asleep behind the wheel?
How many of hours of sleep a night do you get?
Posts
For the past several years I haven't slept more than 4 - 4 1/2 hours (and that's on a good night!) a night. I have major sleep issues and over the counter meds work for a few short days and then it's like my body becomes immune to them. I was recently put on medicine but had to be taken off because it was having horrible side effects.
ReplyDeleteAs for driving - I know it's VERY dangerous for me to be behind the wheel of a car. I fall asleep all the time. Even driving a few short blocks I can fall asleep driving. When I'm on the expressway is the worst. And I do a lot of traveling every other weekend to drop off and pick my son up.
I probably average 8 hours a night. I cannot function on little sleep. I was never able to pull an all-nighter to study. I always opted for my sleep. :) I'm also not a morning person. Never have been even when I had to get up early for the morning commute to work.
ReplyDeleteI love sleep! I think people are too busy all the time to fit sleep in their lifel
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting post to read! I'm someone who needs at least 7 hours of sleep, if not more. When my 1st set of twins were newborns, I was barely getting any sleep and the sleep I did get was always broken up so I never seemed to even get 3 straight hours of sleep. I thought I was gonna go insane, seriously. It was pretty severe. The sleep deprivation with my 2nd set of twins wasn't as bad but it definitely taught me that I crave sleep!!!
ReplyDeleteI personaly hate to sleep. I feel like it a total waste of time, to much to do lol!
ReplyDeleteBefore I had my baby, I could sleep 13 hours straight. But now, I'm lucky if I can manage 5! I want sleep! I don't want to be fat! LOL
ReplyDeleteI NEED at least 8 hours, but now that I have another newborn in the house I get between 4-6 hours.
ReplyDeleteI get, maybe, 5 hours a night. Maybe that's why I can't lose these 20 pounds. Or, perhaps it's the doughnut every morning. ;P
ReplyDeleteI had read this before...and I believe it's true. Unfortunately my three boys apparently did not read the article I did because based on their expertise at keeping me up all night, they want Momma to stay fat!
ReplyDeleteDon't ask.... this week, probably only one nights worth in the whole week of "good" sleep!
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