Lack Of Sleep Adds Up!

Lack of proper sleep (sleep deprivation) adds up!  Experiments have shown that people who are deprived of an hour less than their baseline needed sleep each night, over an extended period of time, experience the same negative effects as people who are deprived of most/all their sleep in a short period of time. Symptoms of these negative effects/ included:

• Loss of motor control
• Short Term Memory / Recall Defects
• Depression
• Anger
• Illness
• Psychosis
• etc.

How Much Sleep Do I Need?

Most adults require between 7.5 and 9 hours of sleep a night.  Growing children and young adults as well as those who excert themselves heavily during the time they are awake or who are stressed by sickness or other factors may require up to 12 hours of sleep a day!

Why Sleep Cycles Matter

A typical person sleeps in cycles that are 1.5 hours long.  The first half hour of the sleep cycle is light sleep, followed by a 2nd half hour of deeper sleep and then a final half hour of the deepest sleep of all.  These cycles repeat themselves throughout the night.

Understanding how sleep cycles work is another reason to think about when you go to bed and what time you set the alarm clock for. The goal is to set the alarm and go to bed so you wake at the end of a completed sleep cycle.

Example: You want to get up at 6:00 AM. Since most people require 7.5 - 9 hours of sleep, you should be IN bed and ready for sleep at either 9:00 PM or 10:30 PM.

If you can't go to bed on time, it is generally better to wait until when you would be able to rise at the end of a full cycle of sleep.

Example: You have to work on a project that keep you up to 11:15 PM. Using the 6:00 AM wake time target, you would be best off waiting till 11:55 to head to bed.

The Power Of Napping

The most recent research findings show that a ten (10) - twenty (20) minute nap may be optimum.  Taking a short nap in the early afternoon (siesta anyone?) has been shown to improve late afternoon productivity and mental alertness.

On the other hand, a 45 minute nap may have the opposite effect.  Sleeping for 45 minutes means waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle (1.5 hours). Since the middle third of the sleep cycle is when the body is sleeping most soundly, waking up during this time can leave you feeling even more tired/groggy than before you started your nap!