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Sleep: What If I Usually Don’t Get Enough?

By Darien Simon, M.S.

Even the most boring activity shouldn't cause you to feel drowsy. If you routinely fall asleep almost immediately after going to bed, you may have gone beyond sleep debt into sleep deprivation, or you may have a sleep disorder. There is so much pressure in modern western society to keep going and doing all the time that what would have been considered abnormal sleepiness a century ago, is virtually a normal state now. Sleep debt can be overcome with a few good night's sleep in a row. Sleep deprivation, however, can be hazardous to your health and the health and safety of others. Experiments with rats have shown that lack of sleep drastically reduces lifespan (from a normal 2 - 3 years to 3 – 5 weeks). Lack of sleep impacts your immune system and makes you more susceptible to illness, leading to lost work time, and for hourly workers, potentially to lost wages and the problems that arise from loss of income, as well. But the illness resulting may not be acute, like a cold or flu. It could be heart problems, high blood pressure, or another chronic condition. Lack of sleep leads to grogginess and impairment of coordination the same way alcohol intoxication does. There are 100,000 traffic accidents per year, and 1500 deaths, due to driver fatigue according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for example. The combination of sleep deprivation and alcohol consumption is particularly dangerous. Not only mental acuity is lost, though. Sleep deprivation affects your mood and temperament as well, making it harder to deal with the everyday events and crises of life, which lead to greater loads of stress, which further impacts your ability to sleep well. If sleep deprivation continues for a long time, hallucinations and significant mood swings can result.