Volume 3, Number 21: Sleep Deprivation

The Health Racquet
Volume 3
Number 21

Sleep Deprivation

By Allegra Tschappler

“Beep, beep, beep, beep, beeeeeeeeep” “Would someone shut off that stupid alarm clock, stop the world for a day, and let me get some more sleep?” Have you ever asked yourself this question? If so, you may have sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation happens when we have something that needs to be completed urgently and we feel like we don’t have enough time. We stay up late getting whatever it is done, and then the next morning when that annoying alarm clock rings, we really regret it. There are other ways to cause sleep deprivation, but this is one of the most common, especially in teenagers.

One of the obvious results of sleep deprivation is that you will feel tired during the day. When you are tired, you don’t perform at your best, and you feel poorly.

In addition to the symptom of feeling tired during the day, sleep deprivation also creates a lack of energy, allows us to feel depressed or irritable, gives us trouble remembering things, and we get sick more often. Doesn’t this sound awful? How can we fix this pervasive and costly problem?

A few suggestions from Postgraduate Medicine.com (http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2002/10_02/pn_sleep.htm):

• Stay away from caffeine, particularly later in the day.
• Have a light snack (but avoid eating a large meal) shortly before bedtime.
• Go to bed and get up at the same times each day, even on weekends.
• Get regular exercise early in the day.
• Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet. A fan or soft music can help disguise distracting bedtime noise.
• Don't take sleeping pills unless your doctor prescribes them.
• Avoid daytime naps unless they last less than 1 hour and are taken before 3 PM.
• Try counting sheep or counting backward, which can lull some people to sleep.
• If you lie in bed awake for more than 30 minutes, get up, go to a different room and read or watch television, and return to bed when you feel sleepy.

It has been said that sleep is like water: without it we can only live so long. When we deprive ourselves of sleep, we will experience nasty side effects, similar to dehydration. So don’t allow yourself to become sleep-deprived. Besides, the Gold Standard is coming up!