Why is Sleeping Important to Us?

Just like food and exercise, sleep is one of our natural living requirements for survival. Sleep is important for our minds and bodies to function effectively.

The amount of sleep for each of us is different. The actual amount depends on our age, biological need, health condition and if we have been deprived of sleep in the past few days. Many major organs of our body systems continue to work actively during sleep and certain hormones are produced when we sleep.

Our body has an internal 'biological clock' to regulate the amount of sleep we need. In general, infants need to sleep at least sixteen hours a day. Growing children need about seven to nine hours of sleep. Most adults need to sleep seven or eight hours per night, although some special people need as little as five hours of sleep and still stay in good health. In general women need more hours of sleep in their first three months of pregnancy as they have to battle common sleep problems during pregnancy such as heartburn, leg cramps and snoring. Elderly people tend to spend very little time in deep sleep and are more easily aroused or awakened.

The above is just a rough guidance on our sleep requirements.

As I mentioned earlier, sleep requirement is actually individual. Just like all other characteristics that we are born with, the amount of sleep at night that we need to keep us awake, alert and function best during the daytime is different from each other. Some people may try to get by with fewer hours of sleep, so as to get more 'awakening time'. However, to be able to give optimal performance, sleep is an important prerequisite. Sleep is not an option. Sleep is the body's way to recharging its batteries. When a person feels sleepy and drowsy even during interesting activities, then he needs to increase the amount of sleep. A drowsy person has trouble of focusing and keeps on yawning. In fact drowsiness is the brain's last step before falling asleep. If a person is deprived of sleep continuously, his judgment, reaction time, concentration power, memory, immune system, patience, and attitude would all be affected negatively. It is as if he has 'over drawn' from his 'body bank' and thus has a 'sleep debt'.

People who are shortchanged on sleep are more accident prone. They may fall asleep at the most inappropriate and even dangerous times such as when driving. Thus their own safety as well as the safety of people around them are jeopardized. People who have 'sleep debt' are also more easily intoxicated by alcohol. Stimulants such as caffeine can seldom overcome a severe case of sleep deprivation. Prolonged sleep deprivation may also increase risk of diabetes and heart attack. Risk of psychiatric conditions such as depression and mental impairment are increased too.

Children who are deprived of sleep do not grow well. They may also become moody and show other behavior problems. They are normally irritable, tired and unhappy. These children usually cannot perform well academically, in sports or in other extracurricular and social activities. Normally they show signs of loss of appetite in food and interests in general. However, there are cases of children who increase their appetite tremendously due to sleep deprivation. Situations like this lead to obesity.

The most common cause of prolonged sleep deprivation is the disorder of sleeping at night or insomnia. A person who suffers from insomnia feels exhausted as a whole. The disorder may be due to poor sleeping habits, sickness, emotional problems or other similar causes.

In conclusion, sleep is of vital importance to us. We need to convince ourselves to put our sleeping requirements ahead of other priorities. We need to identify our own sleeping requirements, follow the rhythm and abide to it.