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Two negative effects of a lack of sleep on physical health and well being
Impact of sleep on your health essay
Two negative effects of a lack of sleep on physical health and well being
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Sleep
“The worst thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to, then forcing oneself to stay awake for days on end must surely come a close second.”
- F Scott Fitzgerald
We spend one third of our lives doing it, and yet, some of us never seem to be able to get enough. People all over the world don’t receive enough sleep whether it’s from a medical condition like narcolepsy, or simply not having enough time in a day. The effects of getting a good night’s rest are essential and signs of sleep depravation are not as hard to spot as one may think.
Sleep can be compared to quicksand, ignore it and you’ll find yourself trapped. It will take over you’re body and if you try to fight it, the more it wins. The effects of not receiving enough sleep are not uncommon. Sleep depravation has been used throughout history and is common as a form of torture in many POW camps (Victims of Sleep Depravation). Countries, including the United States have used this method to extract information from prisoners. It leaves no physical markings but its psychological effects can be very harmful. Victims will literally go crazy. Those who have gone through it say that no sleep is even worse than starvation.
The number of people who suffer from a lack of sleep is growing. This is largely contributed to the increased popularity of late night TV and use of the internet. How many of us can honestly say that we turned the television off in the middle of our favorite show so that we may go to bed at a reasonable hour?
While driving a lack of sleep can be just as harmful, if not more, than driving while drunk.
“We had three of our grandchildren in the back seat. They were singing and the radio was blasting and he went off the road. He said he was all right. I was going to drive, but he said I’m fine, I’m fine. The next day I called the doctor.” (Sleep Apnea)
Almost half of Americans drive while drowsy. One out of every five drivers actually had to pull over and take a nap. Compared to alcohol, which only slows you’re reflexes, driving while drowsy makes the driver completely unaware of his or her surroundings. This can be extremely dangerous for motorists especially truckers, who more often than not, drive late into the night. (Drowsiness on motorists)
Adults are not the only ones effected by a lack of sleep. A one-year-old baby will sleep 16 out of the 24 ...
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...p Apnea. 2 February 2004. http://www.sleepnet.com/sleepapnea.html.
Narcolepsy Information. 2 February 2004. http://www.sleepnet.com/narcolepsy.html.
Don’t Go To Bed Yet. 2 February 2004. http://www.sleepfoundation.org/publications/travel.cfm.
Amphetamines. 23 February 2004. http://corp.aadac.com/drugs/beyond/amphetamines.asp.
Got Caffeine? 23 February 2004. http://www.sleepfoundation.org/caffeine.cfm.
Study Confirms Sleep Essential for Creativity. 2 March 2004. http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/21/sleep.creativity.ap/
Depressants. 10 March 2004. http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/depressants.html
Night Fever. 10 March 2004. http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1117085,00.html
The Real Victims of sleep Depravation. 10 March 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3376951.stm
Insomnia. 10 March 2004. http://yalenewhavenhealth.org/Library/HealthGuide/IllnessConditions/topic.asp?hwid=uh1001
Kunz, Jeffrey, and Asher Finkel, ed. The American Medical Association Family Medical Guide. New York: Random House, Inc. 1987.
Stern, Jack, David Carroll. The Home Medical Handbook. New York: David Carroll, 1987.
Sleep deprivation is a common condition that occurs if you don’t get enough sleep. In case of sleep deprivation people have trouble falling and staying asleep for a long period of time. In order to understand how serious sleep deprivation can be, one must need to know causes and consequences of sleep deprivation, how much sleep do we need? What does sleep do for us? And how we can cure sleep deprivation.
Having no sleep can lead to unhealthy lives, relationships, one’s ability to function and interact with the world, and an unbalanced state of body, mind, and spirit. Sleep is crucial to an individual because it is a time where the body rests and restores energy and develops important information and without sleep, the body will slowly disintegrate. Poor sleep quality often is associated with Insomnia, but the two are two different items. Poor sleep quality is where an individual does not get at least 4 hours of sleep, but is still able to sleep and does not have a normal sleeping cycle. Insomnia is classified as a sleeping disorder, where one persistently lacks the ability to sleep or maintain sleep. This paper goes into a deep discussion of what Insomnia is and the two different types, the causes of Insomnia and how it affects a person’s lifestyle, a comparison between Men and Women who have Insomnia, and possible treatments to aid this disorder.
Chronic sleep loss is becoming more common in modern culture and less restricted to sleep-deprived diseases such as insomnia. Suggested to be the result of a number car, industrial, medical, and other occupational accidents, sleep deprivation is beginning to be recognized as a public concern. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control
Millions of people suffer from the same tossing and turning every which way, getting their sheets all disarranged and their insistent minds abundantly worse. Patients often proclaim indications of insomnia while sitting in the family health clinic. Insomnia traits include hindrance falling asleep, continueing to awaken, and rejuvenating before wanted. One may suffer from insomnia if one shows signs of an increased difficulty in attentiveness, decreased communal or scholastic skills, and a diminished mood or enthusiasm. (Foldvary-Schaefer 111). Countless individuals deal with insomnia for a large amount of their lives and some choose differing treatments, while some do not use any treatments at all. While never being uncommon, the amounts of causes leading to insomnia come in boundlessly; finding new studies and stories every day.
Sleep is one of our basic needs to survive and to function in day to day operations, but not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. Some people can survive on very little sleep, i.e. five hours a night, and some people need a lot of sleep, to the extend that they are sleeping up to 10 to sometimes 15 hours a night (Nature, 2005). According to Wilson (2005) the general rule states that most people need from seven to eight hours of sleep. The deprivation of sleep in our society in continually increasing with the demands in society increasing work loads, the myth that a few hours of sleep is only necessary to function properly and that sleep is sometimes considered as killing time (Nature, 2005). Sometimes sleep deprivation is also caused by other situations like sleep disorders, i.e. sleep apnea, chronic insomnia or medical conditions such as stress (Wilson, 2005).
Sleep deprivation (SD) is a common phenomenon encountered by many individuals with different professions. [3] These professions include healthcare, security and drivers working at night. [1] The average length of sleep that an individual needs is between 7 and 8.5h per day. [quoted in 1] However, this varies between individuals with different age and gender. Pilcher and Huffcutt found that both total and partial SD give adverse effects on human functioning. [2] Researchers have concluded that sleep deprivation affects cognitive performance [1,2], motor performance and mood of an individual. [2]
Many people in the United States, view poor sleep to be an individual's choice instead of an affliction. The number of sleep disorders that are present today is over the top. "Insomnia affects 10 to 15% of the general population and is the most prevalent sleep problem" (Wells, et al 235). With the statistic: 45% of the world’s population is affected by sleep disorders (Noor, et al n.p.). It’s an eye opener to know 15% of the 45% is impaired by Insomni...
Moreover, sleep deprivation occurs when an individual is in sleep-restricted state. Sleep deprivation may have an unfavorable effect on the body and the mind, however it can only have this effect through monism. It is possible to infer that mind and body can in fact not be separate in terms of the effect of sleep deprivation on a human.
Mednick, S. C., Cai, D. J., Kanady, J., Drummond, S. P. A. (2008). Comparing the benefits of caffeine, naps and placebo on verbal, motor and perceptual memory. Behavioral Brain Research, 193(1), 79-86
Many people feel like they’ll be able to overcome their tiredness but truthfully you cannot fight your sleepiness especially while you are out on the road. Others believe that once they get on the road they’ll be able to wake up but that’s not always the case. Instead of pulling over their vehicles, many people chose to continue to drive while they are tired. This can be an extremely dangerous routine to adopt. According to researchers, many of the fatal crashes showed that the drivers were not getting enough sleep and were up longer than they need to be. Drivers that pulled over and took a nap were less likely to end up in a fatal accident (OH Editorial Staff). Some drivers also said that they didn’t feel too comfortable pulling over on the side of the road to take a nap because they felt it wasn’t safe (Yee 232). This can be true in some cases but people that feel this way would have to ask, would they rather take the chance of seriously injuring themselves?
"TEENS, SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND AUTOMOBILE CRASHES . N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014 (Farm Bureau News)
Have you ever stayed up too late? At one time or another most people have probably experienced that feeling where their eyes start to droop and blur. It’s their body telling them they need to sleep… But do they? Many people might think losing a night’s sleep or not sleeping enough is not a big deal, but in fact, continuously lacking sleep does affect people in a bad way. People should know the healthy amount of sleep they need and some solutions to sleeping problems. Sleep deprivation causes physical and mental effects on the human body and can be directly responsible for many fatal accidents.
Specific purpose: To persuade my audience to take care of our sleep duration as it may affect our daily life.
Lack of sleep negatively affects many different aspects of your life and making sure you get enough sleep will save you from: mood swings, loss of focus, change in behavior, and difficulties in everyday tasks.
Sleep is a very important factor in the human function. Our body and brain is able to reset itself and rejuvenate while we sleep. When we do not get the required amount of sleep, we start to feel lethargic and foggy minded, because our mind and body wasn’t able to replenish itself. Sleep is imperative that an insignificant rest deficiency or lack of sleep can affect our ability to remember things; decisions and can affect our temperament. Chronic sleep deficiency can get the body to feel agitated and it could lead to serious health problems such as, heart problems, stress, acne, and obesity.