In the Know: Get the Slumber You Need Tonight!

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If you’re not getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night (millions of us aren’t), you need to zero in on why this is happening and what you can do about it.
 
 
Some nights you feel like you never close your eyes. Or you fall asleep just fine, but then wake up and watch the clock. If this sounds familiar, and a good night’s sleep regularly escapes you, it can mean more than just some next-day grogginess. Too little sleep can affect your health, relationships, and job, and can even put your safety (and that of those around you) at risk.
 
Fortunately, there are many resources to call on. The first step is to recognize the problem and get some help. Talk to your doctor. There are also simple but effective changes you can make in your daily (and nightly) routine. 
 
Benefits of sleep
While you may think of sleep as merely a time of rest, researchers have found it’s actually an action-packed period when many processes vital to your health and well-being occur. 
 
New evidence, for instance, shows that sleep is critical for helping you strengthen your memory and ability to think clearly. Sleep also affects mood and plays a pivotal role in the functioning of your body’s endocrine and immune systems, which regulate the release of key hormones and help protect your body from disease. 
 
Impact of sleep loss 
Too little sleep, studies have found, is associated with a variety of serious health problems, including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and more.
 
Lack of sleep can damage your health in other ways, as well. Drowsy driving is likely the cause of more than 100,000 police-reported car crashes and more than 1,500 deaths every year. 
 
How much sleep you need 
While sleep needs vary from person to person, to be fully alert the next day sleep experts recommend adults get seven to nine hours of sleep a night. And quality counts. 
 
To be refreshing, your slumber needs to be continuous, not disrupted by repeated awakenings. You also need to get enough sleep to avoid sleep debt—the collective effect of not getting adequate sleep over time.  
If sleepiness is interfering with your ability to carry out your daily activities, you probably need more shut-eye.
 
States and stages of sleep 
During slumber, you pass through different states and stages. Over an eight-hour period, light- and deep-stage non-REM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep is followed by dreaming REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. The states alternate every 90 minutes or so, although time spent in each varies, based on age. 
 
Sleep/wake cycles 
You also have an internal 24-hour clock that controls the timing of your sleepiness and wakefulness. This circadian rhythm dips and rises at different times. 
 
For adults, the strongest sleep drive generally occurs between 2 am and 6 am, and between 2 pm and 4 pm. There’s some variation, however, depending on whether you’re a “morning” or an “evening” person. If you’re well rested, you’ll feel drowsy during these dips. If you are sleep-deprived, however, your sleepiness will be even more intense.  
—Dana Gottesman

 

Health Monitor at Home
Update: July 1, 2010