Improving Sleep & Alertness

Sleep is vital in everyone's life. In fact, on average, we spend about a third of our lives sleeping. Over the course of an average 70-year lifespan, that equates to about 205,000 hours. Why is it so important? Well, our health, happiness, and ability to succeed in life are strongly dependent on how well we meet the body's need for rest and quality sleep. Sleep is a naturally occurring period in every 24-hour period of a human's life, in fact. It's during the sleep phase of our daily cycle that the body repairs itself, tests its systems, consolidates memory, purges itself of waste, and stockpiles energy for the day ahead.

At the same time, many people in our modern society who do not have primary sleep disorders are worn out and poorly rested. Why? The answer often lies in poor sleep habits and poor sleep hygiene. It usually is not their fault, though. Schools have not taught sleep hygiene—and in our two income, 24-hour per day, work-driven society, sleep has been relegated to a dangerously low priority.

Dianne Hales, author of How to Sleep Like A Baby, explains in her book that while sleeping “we are not motionless like a car in a garage. (Sleep) is an altered form of consciousness, when muscles tense and relax, our pulse, like our temperature and blood pressure, rises and falls, the brain works, and chemicals course through the bloodstream.”

Good sleep is harder to define, but we know it when we see it.

“(Good sleep) provides you with a sense of vitality that lasts throughout the day. You don't feel you've been deprived of rest during the preceding night, and you don't feel anxious about what's going to happen the next time you try to fall asleep,” wrote Deepak Chopra, M.D. in the book, Restful Sleep: The Complete Mind Body Program for Overcoming Insomnia.

Sleep is not an option in life! Going without sleep isn't a sign of being successful, hard-working, or smart. Instead, it proves to self-destructive in the long-run. Potential consequences of sleep deprivation and poor sleep include the following:

• Increased risk of early death
• Increased risk of heart disease
• Increased risk of stomach problems (ulcers, gastro-esophageal reflux disorder, and others)
• Increased risk motor vehicle accidents
• Decreased work performance
• Memory lapses
• Marital problems/divorce
• Social dysfunction
• Work problems
• Irritability
• Depression, explosive outbursts, and/or mood swings

Over-the-counter stop-snoring sprays, and high-priced pillows are no substitute for common sense. Sleeping pills, caffeine, alcohol, “natural remedies,” and force of will are not a substitute for quality sleep.

Sleep disorders are extremely common -- and often require skilled evaluation and treatment. To find out whether you are likely to suffer from a sleep disorder, take a simple online sleep quiz.