Dear Nairalanders;

I read, appreciated the following aspect of existence and will live by it, and thought to share.

Enjoy.

Personal Health June 17, 2013, 12:01 am

Cheating Ourselves of Sleep

By JANE E. BRODY


Think you do just fine on five or six hours of shut-eye? Chances are, you are among the many millions who unwittingly shortchange themselves on sleep.

Research shows that most people require seven or eight hours of sleep to function optimally. Failing to get enough sleep night after night can compromise your health and may even shorten your life. From infancy to old age, the effects of inadequate sleep can profoundly affect memory, learning, creativity, productivity and emotional stability, as well as your physical health.

According to sleep specialists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, among others, a number of bodily systems are negatively affected by inadequate sleep: the heart, lungs and kidneys; appetite, metabolism and weight control; immune function and disease resistance; sensitivity to pain; reaction time; mood; and brain function.

Poor sleep is also a risk factor for depression and substance abuse, especially among people with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Anne Germain, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. People with PTSD tend to relive their trauma when they try to sleep, which keeps their brains in a heightened state of alertness.

Dr. Germain is studying what happens in the brains of sleeping veterans with PTSD in hopes of developing more effective treatments for them and for people with lesser degrees of stress that interfere with a good night’s sleep.

The elderly are especially vulnerable. Timothy H. Monk, who directs the Human Chronobiology Research Program at Western Psychiatric, heads a five-year federally funded study of circadian rhythms, sleep strength, stress reactivity, brain function and genetics among the elderly. “The circadian signal isn’t as strong as people get older,” he said.

He is finding that many are helped by standard behavioral treatments for insomnia, like maintaining a regular sleep schedule, avoiding late-in-day naps and caffeine, and reducing distractions from light, noise and pets.

It should come as no surprise that myriad bodily systems can be harmed by chronically shortened nights. “Sleep affects almost every tissue in our bodies,” said Dr. Michael J. Twery, a sleep specialist at the National Institutes of Health.

Several studies have linked insufficient sleep to weight gain. Not only do night owls with shortchanged sleep have more time to eat, drink and snack, but levels of the hormone leptin, which tells the brain enough food has been consumed, are lower in the sleep-deprived while levels of ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, are higher.

In addition, metabolism slows when one’s circadian rhythm and sleep are disrupted; if not counteracted by increased exercise or reduced caloric intake, this slowdown could add up to 10 extra pounds in a year.

The body’s ability to process glucose is also adversely affected, which may ultimately result in Type 2 diabetes. In one study, healthy young men prevented from sleeping more than four hours a night for six nights in a row ended up with insulin and blood sugar levels like those of people deemed prediabetic. The risks of cardiovascular diseases and stroke are higher in people who sleep less than six hours a night. Even a single night of inadequate sleep can cause daylong elevations in blood pressure in people with hypertension. Inadequate sleep is also associated with calcification of coronary arteries and raised levels of inflammatory factors linked to heart disease. (In terms of cardiovascular disease, sleeping too much may also be risky. Higher rates of heart disease have been found among women who sleep more than nine hours nightly.)

The risk of cancer may also be elevated in people who fail to get enough sleep. A Japanese study of nearly 24,000 women ages 40 to 79 found that those who slept less than six hours a night were more likely to develop breast cancer than women who slept longer. The increased risk may result from diminished secretion of the sleep hormone melatonin. Among participants in the Nurses Health Study, Eva S. Schernhammer of Harvard Medical School found a link between low melatonin levels and an increased risk of breast cancer.

A study of 1,240 people by researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland found an increased risk of potentially cancerous colorectal polyps in those who slept fewer than six hours nightly.

Children can also experience hormonal disruptions from inadequate sleep. Growth hormone is released during deep sleep; it not only stimulates growth in children, but also boosts muscle mass and repairs damaged cells and tissues in both children and adults.

Dr. Vatsal G. Thakkar, a psychiatrist affiliated with New York University, recently described evidence associating inadequate sleep with an erroneous diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. In one study, 28 percent of children with sleep problems had symptoms of the disorder, but not the disorder.

During sleep, the body produces cytokines, cellular hormones that help fight infections. Thus, short sleepers may be more susceptible to everyday infections like colds and flu. In a study of 153 healthy men and women, Sheldon Cohen and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University found that those who slept less than seven hours a night were three times as likely to develop cold symptoms when exposed to a cold-causing virus than were people who slept eight or more hours.

Some of the most insidious effects of too little sleep involve mental processes like learning, memory, judgment and problem-solving. During sleep, new learning and memory pathways become encoded in the brain, and adequate sleep is necessary for those pathways to work optimally. People who are well rested are better able to learn a task and more likely to remember what they learned. The cognitive decline that so often accompanies aging may in part result from chronically poor sleep.

With insufficient sleep, thinking slows, it is harder to focus and pay attention, and people are more likely to make poor decisions and take undue risks. As you might guess, these effects can be disastrous when operating a motor vehicle or dangerous machine.

In driving tests, sleep-deprived people perform as if drunk, and no amount of caffeine or cold air can negate the ill effects.

At your next health checkup, tell your doctor how long and how well you sleep. Be honest: Sleep duration and quality can be as important to your health as your blood pressure and cholesterol level.

This is the first of two columns on inadequate sleep.
A version of this article appeared in print on 06/18/2013, on page D5 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Harming Our Health With Eyes Wide Open.

Source:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/17/cheating-ourselves-of-sleep/?_r=0

Dear Nairalanders...

The good aspects of having ADEQUATE sleep are immeasurable o...

Please endeavour to live by it from rightaway, even if you're young. Proper research has shown - and is continuing to show - that one will not regret having adequate sleep consistently...

Click on the like button of this post as you practice having good AND adequate sleep.

P34c3

It's interesting that there has been no other comment regarding this subject.

Hmm.

P34c3

Nbdy wants 2 comment bcus u tuk d 1st 2 coment position,anyway y wil i sleep 4 8hrs am i mad?dat leaves 16hrs 4 me in a day,damn it aint enof

K

Our fore-fathers only slept 2hrs a day,yet they lived a peace ful life.

How I go sleep well when my pikins bother me??

duwdu: Dear Nairalanders...

The good aspects of having ADEQUATE sleep are immeasurable o...

Please endeavour to live by it from rightaway, even if you're young. Proper research has shown - and is continuing to show - that one will not regret having adequate sleep consistently...

Click on the like button of this post as you practice having good AND adequate sleep.

P34c3

where can I find it?

[quote author=dedons]Our fore-fathers only slept 2hrs a day,yet they lived a peace ful life.[/quote
your forefather slept for 2hrs that why the world is in a mess.

Very educative. Big props to the OP for the share. All y'all NL nerds, una don hear?

duwdu: Dear Nairalanders...

The good aspects of having ADEQUATE sleep are immeasurable o...

Please endeavour to live by it from rightaway, even if you're young. Proper research has shown - and is continuing to show - that one will not regret having adequate sleep consistently...

Click on the like button of this post as you practice having good AND adequate sleep.

P34c3

Bros, stop begging for our likes!

Why would you want me sleep for 8 Hours when I've got to make money? :-/
Sleep don't pay bills o, get that!

over sleeping is worse! its d quickest way to poverty!!!

unto student tinz, its advisable we read for 8hrs(i read for 6hrs though) coupled with lectures spanning 10hrs of lecturing, 7am-5pm..at the end i end up with less than 6hrs of sleep and heck i feel very okay and sharp too..

Sleep for 8hrs daily!!! Habaaa

That means in 30 years time I must have had 10 years sleep.

Is only lazy people that sleeps 8hrs a day...the most sucessful people in the world today sleeps 2 to 3 hrs a day

knightsamsong: over sleeping is worse! its d quickest way to poverty!!!

gbam u talk true...who wan dai go dai abeg,slp or not...
I knw it wl b dificult 4 many studnts in 9ja to slp 4 8hrs...

8hrs sleep ke,wen im nt sick

Funny as it sounds but we spend two-thirds of our lives sleeping. Do the mathematics

Atigba: Is only lazy people that sleeps 8hrs a day...the most sucessful people in the world today sleeps 2 to 3 hrs a day

and indeed it can be deduced from your posting that you only slept 2-3 hours last night
You sound like kosmo kramer

WHAT WHEN YOU OVERSLEEP?

This post should apply to nairaland MODS. They don't sleep at all. If you post nonesense by 2.00AM at night you will still be banned or your post hidden.

Summary
Sleep. It should not be too much or too short.

If I done stay awake to take care of my life and my family's who will?

Blackteeth: This post should apply to the MODS. They don't sleep at all. If you post nonesense by 2.00AM at night you will still be banned or your post hidden.

you talk true bros, I personally believe NL mods are located all over ... from China to America which is why we have this 24 hour 'surveillance'

Me i no gree o. Na for night i dey busy with my pc nd by day with my books. So 2-3hrs is okay. So go tell webmasters n programmers or even medical students to sleep for 8hrs. Mtchew

Otiga Alih:
Bros, stop begging for our likes!

Why would you want me sleep for 8 Hours when I've got to make money? :-/
Sleep don't pay bills o, get that!

Lagosians take note

only lazy pple sleep 4 8hr at most it shuldnt be more than 4hrs a lecturer once told me he sleeps for only 4hrs till he was a successful man in his field of study-(F.O AYINDE ANGEL OF CHEMISTRY OAU) sleepin might be a factor into good health but doesnt depend on it

8hrs? datz ridiculous...

dat person wil definately b a lazy asshole ....

4 or 5 hrs is okai as 4 me...

If ur doctor ask you to sleep for 8hrs in a day, pls ask him if that's how much he's been sleeping since his days as medical student. If Yes , abeg pick race

sleep or no sleep ,when death comes ,we have no choice but to go ...there is nothing like low sleep shortening your life span

Blackteeth: This post should apply to nairaland MODS. They don't sleep at all. If you post nonesense by 2.00AM at night you will still be banned or your post hidden.

na lie. Dia waz i time i put nakked woman pic 4 my post by 3.am dem no remove am till 10.am doz mods de jonse sumtimes