Sleep Secrets

We all agree that sleep is a natural and important part of our life. We also agree over the fact that over-sleeping as well as sleep deprivation has a negative influence on our physical and mental health. However, the point on which we do not frequently agree upon is the question of “How much sleep do we really need?” Although a vast amount of research has been carried out on the subject, the reports of such studies have been at times been somewhat confusing and inconclusive. But, there is reason to believe that eight hours of sound sleep seems to be the magical number for the typical adult.
Sleep researchers and clinicians sometimes divide people into “Short sleepers” and “Long sleepers” with the majority falling somewhere in between these two categories. People who require less than six hours of sleep per night are dubbed short sleepers and those who require about nine hours of sleep are termed long sleepers.
As most of us know, sleep requirements vary from person to person and there are some well studied factors that contribute to this variation. A well known factor is the age of a person. Newborns and infants typically require a lot of sleep, anywhere between fourteen to sixteen hours a day. Several studies have indicated that the average, active teenager requires about nine hours of sleep during the night. In the case of adults, eight hours of sleep per twenty-four hours is the recommended number, going by a number of research reports. Scientific studies that have examined the sleep requirements of older people (above sixty-five years of age), conclude that although the elderly require around eight hours of sleep, they enjoy only light sleep and their periods of deep sleep are reduced.
Apart from age, sleep requirements also depend on genetic factors as well as on the quality of sleep. In the context of this discussion, the concept of “sleep debt” springs into prominence. For instance, if a person who requires eight hours of sleep per day, manages to sleep only seven hours for two consecutive days, then on the third day he ends up a sleep deficit (or debt) of two hours. By sleeping ten hours that night, he can successfully close the sleep debt of two hours. Many people who incur daily sleep debts carry it forward to the week-end when they sleep for longer periods to effectively “pay off” the debt.
How does one know if he or she is incurring a sleep deficit? Sleep deprivation can cause a variety of signs some of which are explicit (like yawning frequently) while others are implicit (such as reduced response times and subtly impaired cognitive function). The tell-tale signs that may be used to diagnose sleep deprivation include feeling tired and drowsy during the daytime, falling asleep for short periods during work, etc…It has also been argued that if a person constantly falls asleep within five minutes of going to bed, then he is most likely carrying a sleep deficit. Importantly, many studies have shown that chronically sleep deprived persons are at a greater risk of causing automobile accidents if they drive for long, continuous periods. Chronic lack of sleep, then, clearly causes reduced levels of alertness!
Like any other basic necessity in life, you can have too less or too much of a good thing. It is important to know one’s own sleep requirements and adjust one’s lifestyle so that chronic sleep deprivation and over-sleeping are avoided.