While we find information about how we have a good time, we are rarely aware of how a lack of sleep can affect our health and wellbeing.
Because a person works either from work or school and household duties, every day is like a race against time. Add to the temptations of the computer and television programs aired at night, and parts and tricks. At the end of the day, every hour that should have gone to sleep well the night goes to all these, slowly robbing the body of a break you deserve and make you feel drowsy the next day. If you're used to this lifestyle, I warn you. All bad things to do for your body have its consequences, and may be more serious than thought.
1. The social and economic costs
While there are risks to health when you get a couple hours of sleep each night, we can not ignore the fact that the terrible risks that affect the economy. According to a report from the Institute Pf Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, 50-70 million Americans have chronic sleep problems, with as many as 30 million suffer from chronic insomnia.
The result? Traffic accidents due to tired rivers cost at least $ 48 billion a year, while the labor cost $ 150 billion annually in lost productivity and accidents.
The report, entitled. "Sleep disorders and sleep deprivation: a public health problem not met," says that in recent decades, lack of sleep has increased due to television, computer and more days of work among adults.
For those who suffer from insomnia, which means more days off for you. A study by Virginia Godet-Cayre Research in Health Economics in France shows that workers who had difficulty falling asleep an average of 5.8 lost workdays per year, compared with only 2.4 days of absence of "good sleep". The team traced the work history of 369 workers who had insomnia and 369 workers who were getting the right amount of sleep. The study, published in the February issue of Sleep, says that 50% of the insomniac group had at least one period of absence for a period of two years, compared with 34% of another group.
2. Teens and sleep
These days are not just adults who lack sleep. The National Sleep Foundation reported that only 20% of adolescents in the United States is always the recommended 9 hours of sleep a night. This figure is alarming because it shows that millions of them have problems concentrating in class, always late to school, or sleep while driving.
3. If you want to lose weight, do not just focus on your diet
Want to know a secret? The road to a good figure is not only eating in small quantities and exercise regularly: it is a proper lifestyle. I'm not a fitness expert, mind you, but health studies are giving more and more evidence supporting a link between the number of hours of sleep you get and your tendency to be obese.
A study by Dr. Steven Heymsfield of Columbia University amd St. Luke-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, and James Gangwisch, a Columbia epidemiologist, showed that those who were less than 4 hours of sleep are more likely to be 73% obese, while those with an average of 5 hours of sleep had an increased risk of 50%. Those who had only six hours had 23% more.
The reason? Blame gremlin, a substance that makes people want to eat more.
If people do not have the recommended amount of closed eyes, their leptin levels are reduced.
Leptin is a blood protein that suppresses appetite and seems to affect how their body had eaten enough.
So do not think that diet is the only way to build a well, getting enough sleep include in the current schema.
4. And more diseases, too
If you're tired of reading about the serious consequences they will face when given the right amount of rest, here are some more for your information.
When your body is deprived of sleep they need, the chances of getting coronary heart disease double compared to people who have an adequate amount of sleep.
And if you're a man, keep reading. Would you be interested to know that men who are deprived of sleep have an increased risk for erectile dysfunction? This happens when their testosterone levels drop due to a couple of hours of sleep, making it difficult to maintain an erection.
For older people aged 53 to 93, you run the risk of developing diabetes. This is what a study co-authored by Dr. Daniel Gottlieb, an associate professor of medicine at Boston University, said.
Published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, the results have concluded that older people who slept less than five hours were 2.5 times more likely to acquire the sweet disease against those who had 6 hours, which were 1.7 times less likely.
But do not think that will solve the problem of too much sleep, however. The study showed that elderly fell asleep - those with more than 9 hours of sleep - had chances 1.7 times higher.
Finally, lack of sleep makes a person has difficulty in spatial learning, how to reach a new destination. This discovery, which appeared in the Journal of Neurophysiology, suggested that during the process of spatial learning, new brain cells are produced in a brain area called the hippocampus. Sleep is important in helping these brain cells survive.
5. Conclusion
We all know that sleep plays an important role in your overall wellness, and now we know exactly what is likely to face when we have the lack of it, where do we go from here?
It seems that more research in the field of sleep medicine and the public must be increased for everyone to understand that despite all the obligations, the late night TV and drinks that contain caffeine, getting enough sleep is very, very important for everyone, young or old. And as for you reading this article, surely agree.
