| Yawn! Go ahead. Chances are good that you are | | | | to repair itself. You may not be able to "sleep like a |
| sleepier than you think you are. You might even want | | | | baby" once you hit 50, but for general well-being and |
| to stretch luxuriously and go take a nap. Why? | | | | recovery from all illness, few therapies beat a good |
| Chances are better that no matter what ails you, | | | | night's sleep. |
| sleeping well will help you heal. Sleep deprivation is | | | | 3.The Common Cold |
| epidemic in our society. Nearly all of us need more | | | | Ever catch a cold after pulling an all-nighter? A person |
| sleep than we get. I believe a sudden wave of | | | | with a large sleep debt is much more vulnerable to |
| drowsiness should be taken as seriously as the chest | | | | infections and other illnesses. The reason is that, |
| pain that might signal a heart attack. Drowsiness is an | | | | without adequate rest, the body cannot fully recover |
| urgent warning that should not be ignored, particularly in | | | | from day-to-day stresses and the immune system |
| situations where dozing, inattention or impaired | | | | cannot fully defend against disease-causing |
| performance could lead to catastrophe. In such | | | | micro-organisms. |
| situations, stop what you are doing now and take a | | | | 4.Longevity |
| nap. Many cultures honor the afternoon siesta. | | | | A study showed that adults who slept six hours or |
| Americans should, too. In fact, we should look beyond | | | | less a night had significantly higher death rates from all |
| the headlines to the thousands of little disasters sleep | | | | causes than those who slept seven hours or more. |
| deprivation causes every day. Sleepiness contributes | | | | Not surprisingly, motor vehicle accidents accounted for |
| to many car, truck, maritime and airline accidents. | | | | many of the fatalities among those who slept the least, |
| Prevention of thousands of motor vehicle deaths a | | | | but how people schedule their sleep appears to be as |
| year is a reason enough for Americans to get more | | | | important as how much sleep they get. The study |
| sleep, but a good night's sleep contributes to health and | | | | revealed a significant association between untimely |
| longevity in many other ways as well. | | | | death and shift work, the increasingly common practice |
| 1.Productivity | | | | of working through the night or the even more |
| Sleep deprivation hits America right in the wallet by | | | | hazardous practice of switching shifts frequently. In |
| reducing productivity. It impairs the abilities to read, | | | | addition to their higher death rate, those whose jobs |
| write, react, reason, do math and make decisions - | | | | call for them to switch shifts - physicians, nurses, police, |
| every faculty that contributes to getting jobs done well. | | | | firefighters, pilots, and bus drivers are five times more |
| People with chronic insomnia are less productive than | | | | likely to experience mental health problems than people |
| normal sleepers, and they report 2.5 times as many | | | | who work in days. If you do shift work, you might want |
| auto accidents. But you do not have to have insomnia | | | | to reconsider your schedule. If you can't change your |
| to have sleep deprivation impair your performance. | | | | sleep schedule, make sure you sleep at least 8 hours |
| Guess when doctors are most likely to order the | | | | out of every 24. |
| wrong medications for hospital patients; at the end of a | | | | 5.Heart Disease |
| long, overnight shift. Guess when nurses are most likely | | | | The connection between sleep and heart disease |
| to give the wrong medications; Guess when police are | | | | focuses on something most people dismiss as simply |
| most likely to fire their weapons inappropriately. You | | | | an annoyance - snoring. Quite often that's all it is. But |
| get the picture. The list goes on and on. | | | | sometimes snoring is a red flag for heart disease - and |
| 2.Recovery | | | | very few people know it. If your bedmate snores |
| Why do so many illnesses send us straight to bed? An | | | | loudly, with periods of thrashing and choking silences, |
| increased need for sleep is the body's way of | | | | and then complains of daytime drowsiness, he or she |
| orchestrating recovery. Most growth and most | | | | may have sleep apnea. Apnea means a lapse in |
| recovery from illness occurs during sleep, specifically | | | | breathing. People with sleep apnea sometimes stop |
| during the deepest, or delta, stage. Children spend a | | | | breathing for up to one minute at a time. Interrupted |
| good deal of the night in delta sleep because they are | | | | breathing keeps oxygen from entering the blood and |
| growing. As adults grow older, delta sleep diminishes. | | | | as a result, sleep apnea strains the heart, elevates |
| Many people believe that loss of sound sleep is | | | | blood pressure and increases the risk of heart attack |
| caused by aging, but it might just be the other way | | | | and heart failure. If you suspect that your bedmate |
| around. A decline in delta sleep may play a key role in | | | | might have sleep apnea, encourage him to discuss it |
| the physical decline of aging by limiting the body's ability | | | | with his doctor. It just might save his (or her) life. |