Many people have trouble getting to sleep at night.
Whether it’s work or stress keeping them awake, there have been multiple studies suggesting that the effects of sleep deprivation are much more troubling than being groggy in the morning.
For starters, driving sleepy can leave a person just as impaired as driving intoxicated.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drowsy drivers cause more than 100,000 accidents a year, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,500 people.
These estimates are considered to be conservative since there is no definite way to determine if sleepiness caused an accident other than often unreliable self-reporting.
Even if a sleep-deprived individual is not driving, the health affects can be severe.
The National Sleep Foundation states that sleep deprivation increases the appetite, which leads to a greater risk of obesity.
Along with this comes an increase in the risk for diabetes and heart conditions.
Depression is another condition that has been correlated with significant loss of sleep.
If you are having trouble sleeping, experts advise avoiding caffeine in the late afternoon, developing a consistent routine for winding down and waking up, and then adhering to it consistently, even on the weekends.
Regular exercise helps as well.
Some people may boast about not needing sleep to function as if it were a skill or a learned ability, but just because you can do something, does not mean you should.
There is no way of knowing how much happier and healthier these people would be if they focused on getting more rest each night.
That is exactly what the National Sleep Foundation encourages its readers to do: make sleep a priority.
The benefits can improve cognitive, physical and emotional aspects of a person’s life.