Myths and Facts on Sleep Depravation

Posted on 03. Oct, 2010 by Jessica in Global Health Clues

Sleep is a vital part of health. Losing sleep means losing energy, focus and being prone to illnesses.  It affects your immune system, hormones and other crucial functions of your body.

This importance of sleep has generated many guidelines for achieving the perfect relaxing sleep. However, there are many myths that people shouldn’t take as seriously as they do. Some sleeping habits that we have developed are actually causing us more harm than good.

Let’s start with some simple facts that we should be aware of, and myths that could cause us major health problems, and even fatal mistakes.

• If you have insomnia, you need to take prescription drugs every night. MYTH.

Sleeping pills are designed for short term sleep problems, and not for daily insomnia. These problems may be caused by stressful or traumatic events like the loss of a loved one or job, or even jetlag. Those with long-term sleeping problems should practice other methods, such as changing pre-sleeping habits such as avoiding watching too much TV, avoiding caffeine and such.

As a consequence of this belief, in 2004, there were 35 million prescriptions for sleeping pills in the United States. In the last four years, the number of Americans aged 20-44 who were taking up pills has doubled.

• Taking afternoon naps to replace lack of sleep at night makes up for lost sleeping hours. MYTH.

Spaniards have a tradition of taking afternoon naps. Because of this habit, they lose an average of 40 minutes less per night compared to other Europeans. Consequently, Spain has the most workplace accidents in the European Union, as well as the third lowest productivity rate.

• Insomniacs never dream. MYTH

Studies have been conducted that monitor the sleep of insomniacs. According to the results, they have actually slept through the whole night.  The problem is, they experience something close to lucid creaming. In this state, they believe that they are fully conscious, even when they are still asleep. In other words, they are dreaming that they are awake.

Dreaming may be connected to electrical activity that flows through the brain every 90 minutes during REM sleep. An average person can spend more than six years dreaming in their lifetime. Why exactly we dream? Nobody knows.

We need seven to eight hours of sleep for optimum health. The experts discovered that all we need is seven hours. According to the study, those who sleep less than seven hours a day are twice as prone to cardiovascular diseases. Those who sleep for nine hours or more also have an increased risk.