Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Are You Getting Enough Sleep?

Chances are you might not be getting enough sleep.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that 25% of adults in the United States do not get enough sleep at least half of the time and 25% of teens are only getting 6.5 hours of sleep or less.  This has far reaching consequences even beyond the health issues that I have already addressed in previous posts.  That National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that 100,000 crashes occur every year due to driver fatigue.  This leads to 1,550 deaths and 70,000 injuries annually.  It is important to get the amount of sleep that your body needs!

Let's consider some of the signs to look for to determine if you are getting enough sleep: 

Are you more emotional than usual?  As mentioned before, sleep has a huge impact on your emotions, and feeling overwhelmed by emotions and stress may be a sign that you are lacking the sleep needed to provide you with the resources to deal with situations that you could handle if you were fully rested. 

Are you having poor motor skills or visual problems?  An important part of sleep is restoring our body to be able to function, and when we don't get enough sleep even some of our most basic functions can suffer.

Are you having a hard time concentrating or making decisions?  In an earlier post, I addressed how sleep aids the brain's ability to process complex tasks or come up with creative solutions.  A lack of sleep can make it so that you are not able to do these things, thus making it difficult to concentrate or make decisions.   

Are you having a hard time remembering things?  As also previously discussed, sleep is necessary for consolidation of memory, and lack of sleep means that you are not able to give your brain the opportunity to do what it needs to do. 

Are you more hungry than usual or gaining weight?  I also have talked in a previous post about how the hunger hormone ghrelin is released when a person does not get enough sleep.  

And the final question to ask yourself is "when I get up in the morning do I feel rested?"  If the answer is "no," then you might not be getting enough sleep or you might have a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea.

If after reading this you came to the conclusion that you need more sleep, then see my previous posts for some ideas on how to get more sleep.  If you are concerned that you may have a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea, consult your physician.