THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP
Sleep is as important as food and water, and yet nearly half (48%) of UK adults admit they don’t get the right amount of sleep. Imagine if 48% of UK adults claimed they weren’t getting enough food and water - there’d be a famine of biblical proportions!! Discover all about the importance of getting enough sleep and why downtime should most definitely be on your radar.
READ TIME: 2 MINS
As many as 16 million UK adults are suffering from sleepless nights as a third (31%) say they have insomnia. According to a report published by Aviva in 2017, two thirds (67%) of UK adults suffer from disrupted sleep and nearly a quarter (23%) manage no more than five hours a night.
This year, even with many of us working from home, 1 in 5 adults in the UK still report that they suffer from insomnia symptoms, and online search trends show that nearly half a million people were scouring the internet for Sleep Aid Nytol.
On average, UK adults sleep for six hours per night. That’s below the seven to nine hours recommended by the National Sleep Foundation. And yet, where are the news reports about sleep deprivation? Where are the stories about sleep poverty?
Why should I care?
Okay, so you feel great on 5 hours of sleep each night (are you lying?), but that’s not to say you’re not negatively impacting your body and mind. As well as the general fatigue and feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck come Monday morning, people who regularly don’t get enough sleep are at higher risk of serious medical conditions such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
Don’t compromise the long-term for the short-term…
Sleep deprivation can be very distressing and often has a negative effect on mental health. Some people suffer from heart palpitations, nausea and light-headedness - basically hangover symptoms - after a poor night’s sleep. This is most likely caused by your cortisol (our body's main stress hormone and nature’s in-built alarm system) levels being messed up from insufficient rest. Sleep deprivation can cause your body to secrete more cortisol during the day, perhaps in an effort to stimulate alertness. When this guy goes out of whack, our sleep-wake cycle, blood sugar levels and metabolism follow suit. Saying no to sleep is kind of like screaming a big ol’ YES to stress.
Researchers at UCLA proved that starving the body of sleep robs neurons of their ability to function properly. This leads to cognitive lapses in how we perceive and react to the world around us. Sleep deprivation quite literally dampens our brain cell activity by interfering with the neurons’ ability to encode information and translate visual input into conscious thought.
It’s not just about being slower or less productive, though. You’re not just endangering yourself. Did you know that 20% of car accidents are caused by sleep-deprived or fatigued drivers? Fatigue has also played a role in some of the world’s major disasters. Did you also know that the 1986 catastrophe at the Chernobyl nuclear plant was caused by human error; the operators responsible were working on too little sleep and therefore suffered from cognitive impairment.
Saying no to sleep is kind of like screaming
a big ol’ YES to stress.
Help me to sleep ASAP!
Do you really have to set your alarm so early?
Meditation before bed can act as a natural sleep aid. You know the expression ‘meditate, don’t medicate’. This actually applies here. A regular sleep meditation practice before bed can improve your chance of decent shut-eye tenfold.
Annoyingly, the mind is pretty partial to getting caught up in thoughts at bedtime because it’s often the first chance we get to stop and be still. There are ways to help counteract this, though. Obviously, it’s a big ask to say: don’t be stressed and then you’ll sleep better. WOW! We found the cure!!! But, if we can work on our stress management, find a little calmer throughout our day and before bed, we can improve our sleeping patterns and our overall physical and mental health.
Other areas to consider include: limiting your screen time and the amount of caffeine you consume. Too much bright light, such as the harsh blue light emitted by our screens, suppresses the secretion of melatonin. We need melatonin to feel sleepy.
Similarly, caffeine acts as an adenosine receptor antagonist. What does that mean? In a nutshell, adenosine is a central nervous system neuromodulator. Fancy. When it binds to receptors in the body, neural activity begins to slow down, making us feel tired. Caffeine also binds to these receptors. Unlike the molecule adenosine, caffeine stimulates the receptors, leading to a state of hyper-arousal.
So, we’d like to see more of you sporting those delightful blue light filter glasses and ordering decaf. We also encourage you to consciously set aside a little time each evening to relax before heading to bed. Oh, and that nap you fancied? Take it now!