Sleep Deprivation

I talk a lot about sleep...naps, in particular. I'm a nap lover, if I say so myself, but I'm always tired. Sleep is something that most of us wish we got more of. Whether you're worn out from the kiddos, the job, staying up too late, or just having too much to do and not enough time to do it in, sleep is something you wish you could get more of, but you don't have the time for it. How much sleep should you be getting?

National Sleep Foundation has conducted new surveys about how much sleep an average person needs, from the ages of newborn to 65 and older. Are you aware that “younger adults (18 to 25) require 7 to 9 hours of  rest"? The NSP doesn't recommend getting too much sleep, either. Most of us aren't getting anything near the recommended number of hours of sleep per night. When we do have time to ourselves, we tend to oversleep. It's no wonder we're tired and cranky (the cranky part might just be me).

What's going on with your body when you're overly fatigued and how do you know if you are? Health helps us answer this question with “11 Signs You're Sleep Deprived”. Did you know that not getting an adequate amount of rest leads to hunger? According to Health, “If the brain is not getting the energy it needs from sleep it will often try to get it from food”. Acting more on impulse is also a sign of your body and mind needing rest.

What other problems can arise from inadequate amounts of sleep?  It can “dumb you down, make you forget, and age your skin”, according to Web MD  . And I thought my wrinkles were from worrying! The most frightening fact I read was, “those who had cut their sleep from seven to five hours or fewer a night nearly doubled their risk of death from all causes”. Whoa!

I've been told that sleep deprivation can't be remedied and that once sleep is missed, there's nothing you can do to get it back.If this were true, I'd never feel better after napping, but I do. So, does napping help with sleep deprivation?  Web MD reports that "a 90-minute nap created a whopping improvement...in mental fatigue".

Most likely, we're not getting enough rest. The dangers of skipping those few hours of sleep a night are definitely worth educating ourselves about.  The good news? We can start treating sleep as a priority right now. The next time we nap, we need not feel guilty about it. Going to bed a little earlier is worth putting off whatever we have to until tomorrow. Having said this, I think I'll go catch some Z's.