![]() Constructive episodic simulation in dreams. Insomnia and the performance of US workers: results from the America Insomnia Survey. Kessler RC, Berglund PA, Coulouvrat C, et al. Harvard Medical School, Division of Sleep Medicine. This prompted the medical journal Lancet to argue that, given the "24/7 lifestyle of modern societies," doctors everywhere should work harder to "motivate their patients to enjoy sufficient sleep" as a way to prevent-and treat-both obesity and diabetes. More recently, researchers have identified a strong connection between lack of sleep and increased risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, a metabolic disorder frequently triggered by overeating and obesity. When we're overtired, we tend to reach for more snacks more often and give in to cravings for instant gratification, cravings we might otherwise be able to tamp down. This group shows reduced levels of the appetite-suppressing hormone leptin, along with elevated levels of the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin. Caffeine does boost cognitive power for up to a half hour, "but sleep actually takes the recent information you've learned and files it away so you can more effectively take in new information," Stickgold told Time magazine.Ġ3 of 07 Your appetite is insatiable and/or your weight is fluctuating.īack in 2004, a large-scale, long-running Wisconsin Sleep Cohort study showed found that people who sleep fewer than six hours every night are more likely to be overweight. Naps even seem to trump coffee as a workday boost (although drinking a cup of coffee before taking a nap is known to be the ultimate pick-me-up combo). Lately, however, Stickgold has also shown in newer experiments that daytime naps may do as much good for memory processing as a full night's sleep. In a wide range of sleep studies dating back almost 40 years, Robert Stickgold, PhD, director of the Center for Sleep and Cognition at Harvard Medical School, has discovered that nighttime sleep and dreaming promote new learning, memory consolidation, and greater creativity. But, it turns out, stopping work in time to wind down and get a good night's sleep is generally the best way to improve productivity and performance overall. Often we believe it's absolutely essential to stay up late finishing up work projects or preparing for presentations. In fact, insomnia alone is estimated to cost the American economy a staggering $411 billion annually in lost productivity. To avoid long-term health issues and improve your day-to-day life, here's how to identify seven sneaky signs of sleep deprivation.Ġ2 of 07 Your productivity and performance are slipping.Ĭhronic sleep deprivation can negatively affect our abilities to reason, focus, and even find the right words to describe simple things, creating a cumulative, monumental effect in the workplace. ![]() In his book Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, professor and director of UC Berkeley's Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab, Matthew Walker, PhD, describes scientific research that concludes: sleeping for only six hours a night for 10 days can make you as impaired as someone who's been awake for 24 consecutive hours. But getting less than seven hours of sleep a night is all it takes, and the effects are subtle, but cumulative. There are many less obvious signs of sleep deprivation that go beyond yawning, nodding off at your desk, or having heavy eyelids. In fact, you may not even realize you're not getting enough sleep, because you might not feel particularly tired. ![]() You don't need to have pulled an all-nighter, or find yourself falling asleep mid-sentence, to be considered technically sleep deprived. ![]() When we're sleep deprived-which more than one third of adults are-our health and wellbeing can suffer in myriad ways: mental, physical, and emotional. Sufficient sleep-which for adults is defined as getting at least seven hours per night by the CDC-is an absolutely vital driver of every physiological system in the human body. In fact, there's a real misconception that sleep deprivation is some kind of heroic feat, a boast worthy indication of how hard you work, how early you can wake up, how little sleep you (think) you need, how active and social and busy you are.īut sleep isn't just a cozy reward after a long day-and it's certainly not a sign of laziness or weakness. In our always-on society, there's great temptation, and even pressure, to shortchange sleep. ![]()
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