WhySleep.org

Why sleep matters? Sleep is an essential element to keep life going, nothing else matters. We spend about one-third of our lives asleep, nearly 3,000 hours per year. Unfortunately, one out of every four Americans reports getting sleep less than 7 hours per night daily during the work week, which works out to about an hour and a half less than a century ago.

When we have a good night sleep, we wake up feeling energizing, and ready to face any challenges of the day. When we don’t, every aspect of our life can suffer. Normally we don’t realize the benefits of sleep, however most of us know what it’s like to have a bad night’s sleep. The next day we are a bit groggy, and as the day goes on we may become irritable, because laying on bed at night is not a luxury – it is a need. It is important to help restore and rejuvenate the brain and body, follows by good nutrition and exercise.

Unfortunately, we are becoming a member of increasingly sleep-deprived society, or rat race in which sleep is not valued. With high demands of everyday work, many of us are willing to sacrifice rest to gain that little extra time for what looks to be more important or interesting.

This can be an extremely costly mistake, warns experts. Our body simply does not have the time or the ability to recuperate and regenerate. It can seriously affect our health, work (for students, school performance), and the safety of ourselves as well as others.

“Stop sleeping altogether and you will die. People, who by choice, or because of work, illness, or circumstances, go being awake for 5-10 days become irrational, paranoid, confused, and even hallucinatory,” cautions expert Dr James B. Maas.

“At any age, the effects of sleepiness range from annoying to deadly,” says the US National Sleep Foundation Executive Director Richard Gelula.

Lack of sleep, also known as “sleep debt”, can reduce attention and vigilance by 50%, decision-making ability by 50%, communication skills by 30%, and memory by 20%, according to researchers. That is why it is recognized as a serious problem in many countries today. The price we have to pay for this condition is higher than we think. Without adequate sleep (which most of us are guilty of), we have reduced energy to process information, and find it difficult to focus along side with diminished mood, which also account for most the accidents.

“We are not healthy unless our sleep is healthy, and this won’t happen unless we become thoroughly aware of both its peril and promise,” says William C. Dement, the world’s leading authority on sleep deprivation.