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Pay your sleep debts now!
 AT
ONE TIME or another we all have had debts. Experience alone
tells us that borrowing money is not exactly the best way
to solve our financial problems. All we do is delay the inevitable.
Even if we were able to satiate the current need, we will
still have to go back and settle the debt too. As surely as
history repeats itself, debts only spell more debts.
Like borrowing money, we also incur sleep debt every time
we cut back on our sleeping needs. However, unlike monetary
debt, the longer you set aside payment for your sleep debt,
the more harm it does to your body. For each hour you cut
back on sleep, you’ll need to sleep that much plus your
daily need. If your body needs to sleep for eight hours to
be fully rested, and you sleep only for six, you’ll need
to sleep for ten hours the next evening to pay off your sleep
debt.
However, is it really necessary to catch up on your lost
sleep? Medical experts think so. Cutting back on the number
of sleeping hours can accelerate the aging process, lead to
obesity, hypertension and increase the risk of various diseases.
In a study conducted by Dr. Eve Van Cauter, whose research
team at the University of Chicago recently published the first
study to specifically examine the physical health impact of
ordinary sleep deprivation, the effects of sleep debt on the
body has been nothing short of “astonishing.”
In their study, healthy young men where allowed only four
hours of sleep for six consecutive nights. The findings were
shocking. At the end of the study, the men had blood test
results that almost matched those of diabetics. Their ability
to process blood sugar was reduced by thirty percent. Their
insulin response also fell significantly and had elevated
levels of the stress hormone cortisol that could lead to hypertension
and memory impairment. Van Cauter explains that the results
“were more compatible with 60-year-olds, than young,
fit men in their early ‘20s.”
Furthermore, in a study conducted by Col. Gregory Belenky
of the United States military, sleep debt also decreases the
brain’s ability to function, and greatly impairs areas
that are responsible for attention, complex planning, complex
mental operations, and judgment.
People that are deprived of the needed number of sleeping
hours also run the risk of drifting off to sleep while driving.
Drowsy drivers are, in fact, just as dangerous as drunk drivers
on a freeway. For factory workers handling large machinery,
it can have costly or fatal consequences.
So if sleep debt is true, then why aren’t dead from
exhaustion by now? No one knows the answer for that for sure
since no one has done a thorough research on the long-term
effects of sleep debt. However, the results gathered from
the previous researches are undoubtedly authentic.
Although paying back those lost hours has been highly recommended
by experts, it is easier said than done. In a world where
time is short and crucial, good long sleep has become a rare
commodity. So does this mean that we are doomed to age twice
as fast as our ancestors? Not quite so. Though not exactly
the panacea of sleep debt, doctors recommend napping as a
quick fix. A twenty or thirty minute snooze is sometimes enough
to give our mind and body the extra boost to get going. According
to Dr. David Dinges, chief of the Division of Sleep and Chronobiology
at the University of Pennsylvania, the recommended time for
a nap is from noon to 6 p.m. and the peak time is from 1 p.m.
to 3 p.m. It is also suggested that one should try to fully
lie down for better blood circulation. Also, if you are planning
to stay up late, it is best to have a nap in advance. *
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