National Sleep Awareness Week Spotlights The Dangers Of Insufficient Shut-Eye

How'd you sleep last night?

If you're among the third of Americans who don't get enough shut-eye, then there's no better opportunity to make sleep a priority than National Sleep Awareness Week, taking place this year from March 7 to 13.

This annual education and awareness campaign, spearheaded by the National Sleep Foundation, aims to help the public, healthcare providers and policymakers better understand the benefits of good sleep habits and the importance of identifying the signs of a sleep disorder.

Sleep deprivation has become a badge of honor for many people, but research shows that adequate sleep is key to a healthy lifestyle. Sleeping the recommended seven to nine hours nightly can benefit your heart, weight and mind -- not to mention your appearance.

The end of National Sleep Awareness Week appropriately coincides with the beginning of Daylight Saving Time -- the "springing forward" that causes Americans to lose an hour of sleep. It is on this day, perhaps more than any other, that the effects of insufficient sleep are felt and lamented. It's important to realize, however, that sleep deprivation may be negatively affecting you all year long.

Take the time to educate yourself about your own sleep needs this week -- and don't forget to get some rest!

Comments

[Queen4ever]

07:31 AM on 03/08/2011

As a student at Baruch College in New York I am one of those people who suffers from lack of sleep. I have been doing it for so long that there are times where I am not at all tired late into the night. This goes out to all the professors: Could you stop giving us so much work? I am not a person who is complaining just because I don’t like work. I take a lot of pride in my work, but it comes down to a trade off. The more work I do the less sleep I get. I think that goes for many people. It is not just to students and not just in New York. This society is one where it is work, work, and work. To many people it’s about the amount of hours you work and the amount of money you make; sleep comes at the expense. I think what people have to do, myself included is learn to manage sleep.

[Kristin Talbott]

02:56 PM on 03/07/2011

Perhaps it would help us sleep better if we stopped bouncing the clock around twice a year. It takes me weeks to adjust to each change. The "spring forward" is the worst - we just get to the point where it's getting light early enough to actually have a chance of coinciding with the time we get up and then all of a sudden an entire hour of morning light disappears, relocated to the end of the day.

We simply aren't made to live like this. Getting up when it's light and going to bed not too long after dark (during the long winter nights, it was typical for people to sleep for several hours, awaken for a couple, and then go back to sleep until the sun came up) is what we are naturally wired for, but that's pretty much an impossibility when we're expected to work the same long days in the winter that we do in the summer.

Anyway, while I appreciate the sentiment of articles like this, saying "get more sleep, it's good for you," without going into the deeper reasons it's so hard to get adequate rest are not likely to change things for most of us.

[IFallToPizzas]

10:38 AM on 03/07/2011

Take a sleep apnea questionnaire! There on many online. I’m glad I did. I didn’t fit the typical profile for someone with sleep apnea – male, middle-aged, overweight or obese. I was a 30 something mom who couldn’t keep up with life. I was overdoing the caffeine, fuzzy in my thoughts and never wanted to get out of bed in the morning. I have snored since childhood. After meeting with an ENT doctor and undergoing some additional tests, turns out I have a deviated septum, small mouth, big tongue, all my tonsils and adenoids are large and intact. I have Obstructive Sleep Apnea. I underwent a sleep study and got fitted with a CPAP machine. What a difference! I need way less caffeine, no thoughts of a nap at 3:30pm. Focus is better.

Run, don’t walk, to take an online questionnaire and see a sleep specialist if so indicated.

[Mark Ellsworth]

10:36 AM on 03/07/2011

Worrying about sleep causes insomnia.

[hp blogger Kelley Harrell]

10:33 AM on 03/07/2011

Thanks for this awakening!

[Sharp Seniors]

07:17 AM on 03/07/2011

Hands down - Yoga is the best medicine for people who have chronic sleeping problems.

[Patrick Shaw]

08:14 AM on 03/07/2011

That yoga stuff....does in come in cherry flavor with whole fruit pieces ?