Sleep debt

MILLIONS of people today are in serious "debt."
This debt can be a major factor in wrecking their
cars, damaging their careers, and even ruining
their marriages. It can adversely affect their health
and life span. It is a deficit that contributes to
immune suppression, creating susceptibility to
various infections. Conditions as different as
diabetes, heart disease, and extreme obesity, as
well as other health problems, have been linked
to it. Yet, most victims are oblivious of this debt.
The culprit is sleep debt, which develops when a
person does not get the amount of healthful sleep
needed for well-being. This can be caused by
voluntary sleep deprivation resulting from a
person's life-style or by involuntary sleep
deprivation because of illness.
Medical researchers estimate that earth's
population is now getting, on average, an hour
less sleep per night than what is needed. While
this may seem slight, a nightly six-billion-hour
debt has become the focus of research into both
the variety of sleep-related illnesses and their
impact on the quality of life.
The medical world once viewed the chronic
inability to sleep as just one disorder, commonly
called insomnia. However,there are 17 recognized distinct sleep
disorders. At any rate, insomnia has so many
causes that it is often considered to be a
symptom of other problems, much as a fever
suggests some sort of infection.
Even occasional sleep
deprivation can cause
serious accidents
Even occasional deprivation of sleep can be
disastrous. Consider the case of Tom. Although
an experienced truck driver, he plunged his 18-
wheel vehicle over an embankment, spilling 30000L
of petrol onto a major
highway. Tom admits: "I fell asleep." Studies estimates that drowsy
drivers caused some 50 percent of the fatal
crashes.
Consider, too, the occupational dangers of being
around a sleepy coworker.A research showed that After 17 to 19 hours
without sleep [participants'] performance on
some tests was equivalent or worse than that at
[a blood-alcohol concentration of] 0.05%." In
other words, subjects functioned as if at or
beyond the legal limit in some countries of
alcohol permitted in a driver's bloodstream! With
hundreds of thousands of sleep-related auto and
job-site accidents happening annually, the
worldwide cost to productivity and family is
enormous.What factors may contribute to sleep debt? One
is the social phenomenon often called 24/7 —
operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
this is "a cultural
earthquake that is changing the way we live,"
noting that "a new wave of round-the-clock
retailers and services is profiting by mocking the
clock." In many lands people watch all-night
television programs and access the Internet when
they should be sleeping. Then there is the toll
taken by emotional disorders, often involving
anxieties heightened by stress and the pace of life.
Finally, there are a variety of physical diseases
that can contribute to sleep debt.
Many doctors note how difficult it is to get their
patients to take sleep debt seriously. One doctor
complained that chronic fatigue is even
considered "a status symbol" by some. And
because their condition often worsens very
gradually, victims of sleep deprivation may not
recognize that they suffer from a serious sleep
disorder. Many reason, 'I'm just getting old' or, 'I
can't cope with life, so I tend to shut down' or,
'I'm tired all the time because I can never get the
long rest I need.'
Reversing this sleep debt is a complex challenge.
But understanding how a healthful sleep cycle
works and learning to identify the signs of sleep
debt can provide the motivation to change.
Recognizing the symptoms of a serious sleep
disorder can save lives.