Sleep

T Lingcholi Sangtam *

As every person differs from others in their looks, personalities, thoughts, temperament, likes, dislikes, etc, so as the timing for sleep differs. Biologically, some are more likely leaning towards night owl, and others, a morning lark. And if I’m asked which of these two is more preferable, I would say “morning lark” – which by the way is society’s favorite.

But regardless of which category one falls under, they both need sufficient amount of sleep. Now, how much sleep is a sufficient sleep? Experts recommend 8 hours of sleep (adults) every night. If you think you are not one among those who gets 8 hours of sleep, than you are not alone.

Roughly two-third of adults in all nations does not obtain the recommended hours of sleep. Don’t be happy though, it will surprise you that there are lots of health hazards resulting due to the lack of sleep. Here are some out of many:

Firstly, routinely sleeping less that 6-7 hours a night demolishes your immune system, that’s more than doubling your risk of cancer. It is also a warm welcome to any infection.

The amount of sleep you get is also a deciding factor on whether or not you will develop Alzheimer’s disease – Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions.

Pattern of inadequate sleep even for a week would disrupt blood sugar level substantially that one would be classified as pre-diabetic. Sleep is one causal factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and congestive heart failure. Too little sleep would also upset eating pattern, perhaps one would overeat or have anorexia.

Secondly, it’s funny but real, the shorter your sleep, the shorter your lifespan. Sleep disruption further contributes to all major psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, and suicidality.

It’s not the end, drowsy driving is the cause of hundreds of thousands of traffic accidents and fatalities each year. Risk of life is not just upon the sleep-deprived drivers but the lives around them. The rate of drowsy driving exceed those caused by alcohol and drugs combined.

Lastly and importantly, difficult night without sleep is followed by a difficult day. Sleep is also one of the major contributor of creativity and other cognitive abilities – a ruffled mind cannot obtain good learning.

Therefore it is not healthy for parents or teachers to encourage students to study over time without a proper sleep. It would in return reduce the memory retention and slower learning. Sleep is a state of revision of whatever is stored in the brain, throughout the day.

Hypothetically speaking, a sleep-deprived person can never compete with unwearied person.