The whole world is exhausted right now, and that might just be doing more harm than we estimate.
What if we told you that there is an elixir that, when consumed, is the single most effective thing that you can do for your physical AND mental health? Yes, it exists. We, however, have been “sleeping” on it for a long, long while.
According to sleep researcher and UC Berkeley neuroscientist Matthew Walker, “The decimation of sleep throughout industrialized nations is having a catastrophic impact on our health, our wellness, even the safety and education of our children. It’s a silent sleep loss epidemic. It’s fast becoming one of the greatest challenges we face in the 21st century,” said Walker, author of the bestselling book (Why we Sleep).
It has long been held that sleep is a “resting” state of the body, but recent studies have shown otherwise. The body goes through a number of changes while asleep, and when these changes do not occur in a proper fashion due to sleep loss, it affects every aspect of our biology.
On an average, a human being will spend a third of their life asleep. This extremely important for us, however unfortunately, is not taken seriously by employers, politicians, and even us alike-mostly attributing the desire to get a long night’s sleep to laziness. In that sense, the hustle culture might be doing us more harm than good.
Defined as anything less than 8 hours a night, sleep deprivation is affecting our ability to function fruitfully. A host of things contribute to this deprivation, including-but not limited to-electric lights, caffeine, day naps, electronic appliances, long working hours, and a collective apathy towards the importance of getting proper shut eye.
In terms of consequences on mental health of lack of sleep: it can make a person 60 percent more reactive, i.e. a 60 percent hike in emotional responses of the brain. Sleep deprivation can make us much less likely to reach out to people for help. Sleeping less than 7-8 hours can make us more likely to misinterpret social cues (think back to the last time you felt really snappy or irritated at work, it was most likely less sleep, and not your colleague).
Studies have also shown that less sleep can make us prone to getting at least 40 percent more anxious, and likely to engage in predicting/anticipating things that aren’t there. It can lead to poor judgment, and increase likelihood to engage in risk taking, and reward seeking behaviours. For people already suffering from mental health concerns, it can likely heighten suicidal thoughts. Not getting enough sleep affects our memory and learning as well, and consequently, might be working to degrade the quality of our work. It can not only make us forgetful, but in the long run, chronic sleep deprivation has been found to be one of the major predisposing factors for Alzheimer’s.
According to Walker, night shifts are a natural carcinogen and may lead to a whopping 200 percent increase in the development of cancers. This is because sleep deprivation affects the immune system by reducing the production of natural killer cells by 70 percent, and will also make us more likely to catch common colds and viruses. Consistently poor sleep puts us at risk for obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, and shortens your life expectancy.
If you’ve found yourself hitting the snooze button, you might just be assaulting your cardiovascular system. When suddenly awakened by the sound of an alarm, the body goes into fight or flight state-the physical state that is most commonly associated with a number of mental concerns like anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Every time we hit the snooze button, this assault repeats itself. That alarm might be more helpful to remind you to go to sleep on time.
To help sleep better, Walker suggests some of the followeing:
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Not consuming caffeine after 10 am in the morning
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Putting away your phones and laptops, or using blue light glasses
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Dimming the lights in the house as the night approaches
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Eating or exercising at least 4-5 hours before sleeping
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Following a fixed routine before you go to sleep
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In case you’re not being able to fall asleep, do something calming, and wait for sleep to come. Forcing it might be more counterproductive.
While you and I and many others wear how less they sleep as a badge of honour, now we know that that’s inflicting a lot of damage to our minds and bodies. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were said to survive on a few hours a night. Both developed dementia later in life.
As I write this post, late at night, sipping on some coffee to help keep awake-I urge you and myself to please sleep. It’ll do us good.
Check out our Instagram post on Sleep Etiquette here.
