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wake up to sleep.
IP: 137.44.1.93
Posted on October 3, 2010 at 03:50:47 AM by georgia

a third of the population have sleep-related problems and most people do not understand just how important sleep is and why. if you are not getting your full 8 hours a night, please read this.

wake up to sleep
by richard thomas
Britons are becoming 'borderline retarded' through missing too much sleep as the country turns into a 24-hour society, according to Canadian researchers.

Falling an hour short of the desired 8 hours a night can temporarily knock points off your IQ, with two more lost if a further hour is skipped. Fifteen points can easily be lost in a week, which would make the average person with an IQ of around 100 'borderline retarded' by Friday.

Warning that Britain is in danger of becoming a 'sleepless society', medical authorities have highlighted a sharp deterioration in the time we spend sleeping, with serious consequences on our roads, in the workplace and for our relationships.

The British Sleep Foundation was launched last year to raise awareness of the importance of snoozing and to lobby for better funding for the handful of NHS sleep clinics.

'Sleep has been badly downgraded,' said Professor Jim Horne, Head of the Sleep Research Centre at Loguhborough University and cofounder of the foundation. 'We are moving towards a 24-hour culture with people working through the night. Even in our leisure lives sleep is seen as a waste of time. Young people go clubbing. An early night is not cool.'

A Gallup poll has shown that one in ten of us has fallen asleep while driving - causing a quarter of all fatal road accidents - and that a third of the population have sleep-related problems. The average night's sleep is now down to 7 hours, from nearly 9 earlier in the century, with many people surviving on fewer than 6 hours a night.

'Britain needs to wake up to its sleep problem,' said Professor Neil Douglas, Head of Respiratory Medicine in Edinburgh University and the other cofounder of the BSF.

There are signs of change - some London PR and advertising firms have 'power-napping; rooms - but in general the damaging view that sleep is wasteful still holds.

There is a heavy cost, say researchers, in the invisible loss in productivity and intelligence.

facts
- Infants require 16 hours of sleep a day. By the age of 5 they need about 12 hours. Teenagers and adolescents need about 9-10 hours a day, and it's not until you hit adulthood that you can drop to 8 hours.
- Sleep deprivation causes anger problems, obesity, loss of intelligence, inability to think or make decisions and general lower performance.
- Teenagers suffer from phase delay syndrome, meaning they feel more naturally awake later at night and have more difficulty getting up in the morning.
- Sleep deprivation kills - not just you, but your colleagues too. It's what caused the accident at Chernobyl. It isn't just your tired actions which can kill, though - your body physically needs sleep as much as it needs food, and if you deny it that, like food deprivation, you will eventually die.
- Sleeping patterns are universal, meaning that everyone needs the same amount of sleep. "Training" yourself to run on lack of sleep is impossible, as many studies have unanimously shown. Everyone is affected by sleep deprivation and everyone needs their full 8 hours minimum a night.
- Depriving yourself of sleep causes you to be a danger to your colleagues and friends.
- Your family will feel the strain if you do not sleep enough. It doesn't just affect you, it affects everyone around you.
- You are most at risk of sleep deprivation if you work irregular shifts, travel abroad a lot or have a high-stress lifestyle.

research
Experiments where rats have had incisions in their brains to remove the function of sleep have caused them to die within two weeks.
The moral? Lack of sleep kills, same as lack of food.

In another experiment, volunteers were limited to four hours of sleep a night. After a week, they were taking 5-10 minutes to respond to simple questions such as 'What is your name?' due to lower cognitive ability. However, none of them felt they were sleep deprived and all of them were quite happy to perform ordinary activities such as driving.
The moral? Sleep deprivation has the same effect as alcohol, meaning that while you are sleep deprived you cannot comprehend your state or gauge your ability to perform. Again, you cannot train yourself to run on lack of sleep. You may think you can, but you are fooling yourself. This is true of everyone, and this false belief is one of the biggest killers in the modern day.

In another experiment, sleep deprived participants were tied to an uncomfortable chair and repeatedly electrocuted while having bright lights flashed in their face and loud music blasting through their ears. All of them fell asleep within 12 minutes.
The moral? Providing a regular pattern is established, you can sleep through anything. If you're feeling tired while driving, winding your window down and turning the volume up will not work for longer than about 5 minutes, after which your body establishes it as a routine. Your body will adjust to conditions frighteningly quickly, and you'll be amazed what you can sleep through if you're tired.

recognising that you have insomnia
Diagnosis for insomnia:
- It takes longer than 30 minutes to get to sleep at night.
- Less than 85% of the time you spend in bed at night is sleeping.
- Increased number of night-time awakenings.

Any of these symptoms occurring three or more times a week means you can be officially diagnosed as an insomniac.

Most forms of insomnia are temporary due to stress. If you have on-going insomnia you must see your doctor.

what can i do about sleep deprivation?
understanding sleep
Two basic requirements are needed for you to sleep: the correct melatonin level and the correct body temperature.

Melatonin is the hormone which puts you to sleep. It is only produced in darkness, which is why we sleep more in the winter time and why we are not naturally nocturnal.

Your body temperature peaks at about 6pm and drops to its lowest point at about 4am. Your body temperature will peak again at about the same time as your melatonin levels, so if you feel yourself getting warm, that's your body telling you it's time to sleep.

A dark, warm environment will help you to get to sleep.

establishing a routine
As we've already shown, routines help you to sleep. Make sure you have a sleeping routine and stick to it - maybe a glass of warm milk before you go to bed. If you use the same routine every night, it will trigger your endogenous pacemakers (internal body clocks) and trick the body into thinking it's time to sleep.

Your body is naturally designed for two sleeps a day, so to feel the most energised you should have one main sleep at night/in the morning and one shorter sleep in the afternoon/early evening. Older people will need to nap more. Remember that you do not necessarily need to be asleep while napping - taking a few minutes to close your eyes and blot out the world will have the same effect.

Do not go on the computer or watch television before going to bed, as screens have a stimulating effect on the brain. You can go on the computer in the evening, but always make sure you stop an hour or so before you want to sleep.

Stick to your routine, even on days off work/school. It will help make sleeping easier for you.

sleeping pills
If you are still having trouble sleeping you can obtain sleeping pills from your doctor or local chemist.

However, you should not rely on these as there is some doubt as to whether they give you the right kind of sleep.












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Hope that's informative to some people.

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