There are also those who boasts of managing life with only a few hours of sleep. I recently met a person, in his forties, recuperating in the neurological ward of Fortis hospital after suffering a mid stroke. He said there are some people whose strength is working for long hours, 14-18 hours to be precise and he considers himself in that category. Question is if sleep is really wasteful for your well-being or it is necessary for your well-being. If you are intrigued by the question you may as well read till the end.
One article in Nature tells us that "20% of American adults reported being so sleepy during the day that it interferes with their daily activities at least a few days per week, and a frightening 17% reported falling asleep while driving within the last year. The risk of sleep-related accidents is compounded by the fact that people are unable to judge the likelihood that they will fall asleep, and by the related misconception that falling asleep is a slow process. In fact, sleep-deprived people commonly enter so-called 'microsleep' states, where they fall asleep for brief episodes lasting several seconds, during which time they are perceptually 'blind', often unaware that they have fallen asleep.
Accidents aside, one likely consequence of sleep deprivation is memory impairment. It was shown several years ago that a particular type of memory consolidation—improvement after practicing a visual discrimination task—does not occur until many hours after practice has ended. Using cleverly designed sleep deprivation experiments, researchers extend this result by demonstrating an absolute requirement for sleep within 30 hours of training. Importantly, it was the occurrence of sleep and not the simple passage of time that was critical."
There are other researches that tell us that 'within the brain, a whole raft of genes
have been shown to be turned on only during sleep,
and those genes are associated with restoration
and metabolic pathways'. Russel Foster, a neurologists and sleep researcher, explains in a recent TED talk that it is not just the laying down of memory
and recalling it, our ability to come up with novel solutions
to complex problems is hugely enhanced by a night of sleep.
"In fact, it has been estimated to give us a threefold advantage.
Sleeping at night enhances our creativity.
And what seems to be going on is that, in the brain,
those neural connections that are important,
those synaptic connections that are important,
are linked and strengthened,
while those that are less important
tend to fade away and be less important."
In a just published article
in Nature, researchers found that "fear extinction may be selectively
enhanced during sleep, even without re-exposure to the feared stimulus
itself." So sleep is crucial to help you beat your everyday paranoia and
other neuroses.
Orfeu Marcello Buxton, another neurologist told in NYTimes that in his research he found that sleep restriction or disruption increases obesity and diabetes risk, by decreasing insulin secretion, increasing blood glucose levels slowing metabolism (the study is here).
Orfeu Marcello Buxton, another neurologist told in NYTimes that in his research he found that sleep restriction or disruption increases obesity and diabetes risk, by decreasing insulin secretion, increasing blood glucose levels slowing metabolism (the study is here).
So it is kind of clear that lack of adequate sleep is bad economics for you, not only in long term but also in short term. So much so that there is more than $20 billion business[CNN Money report, 2006] came up to capitalize on the derivative of lack of sleep of high-earning people. In other words you increase your liability manifold compared to what you gain by curtailing your sleep.
But how much sleep is adequate for you?Dr. Russel Foster tells you that you must listen to your body. If you are feeling irritated, tired or dull in the morning for no reasons, you probably are sleep-deprived and more you continue in that state, more you reduce your mental productivity as well as your overall well-being.
Read more
Dr. Russel Foster's TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/
Articles in Nature:
http://www.nature.com/neuro/
http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.3527.html
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