How Important is Sleep?
One thing is clear from years of scientific research and sleep studies - getting enough sleep is essential, and sleep problems and sleep disorders can be extremely detrimental to your overall health and wellbeing. For instance, in the 1960’s a group of scientists performed a series of sleep studies on rats that involved total sleep deprivation. After only five days without sleep the rats started dying. They learned that sleep is as essential as food or oxygen, because those rats succumbed to sleep deprivation just as quickly as they would have from starvation.
Beyond basic survival, a 2001 study performed at the University of Chicago found that regular sleep deprivation can lead to serious health problems, including heart disease and mental illness. Furthermore, other studies have proven that short term sleep deprivation can result in weight gain (due to an increased appetite because of a rise in the hormones that regulate hunger), higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, and diminished motor skills. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, every year over 100,000 traffic accidents are directly related to driver fatigue, drowsiness, and lowered awareness due to lack of sleep.
Sleep deprivation also has a negative effect on your brain’s ability to memorize and consolidate information, and studies have proven that people who slept after learning new information performed better on future tests. Furthermore, sleep deficiency reduces your ability to concentrate and leads to irritability, impatience, and general moodiness.
All of this research and evidence makes it clear that getting enough sleep not only improves your health, it is an essential part of taking care of yourself physically and mentally. If you are having sleep problems or trouble falling asleep, the Speed Sleep program can make a huge difference in the quality of your sleep - and the quality of your life.
Tags: Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Studies