Showing signs
When we don’t sleep well there’s a high chance we’ll feel tired the next day, but lots of us just accept this feeling and get on with our days. Doctor James Maas says we shouldn’t ignore this sign as it is clear our bodies are suffering. If we’re not getting enough sleep then we may also have poor concentration, anxiety, depression, irritability and struggle to communicate with others.
Why worry?
Dr Maas points out that fatigue isn’t the only health issue we can face if we’re not getting enough sleep. He explains that diabetes could be related to sleep deprivation following a recent study. The research monitored men who had disrupted sleep over seven days, finding that at the end of the week they showed signs of pre-diabetes. A further study by the University of Chicago, shows how sleep can influence our heart health as people who sleep for an hour extra at night reduced their risk of getting calcium deposits in their arteries by a third. More evidence shows we can also protect ourselves from cancer by sleeping at least seven hours a night. Women in another project we found to nearly double their cancer risk if they slept fewer hours than this.
What should we do
The doctor explains that between seven and a half and nine hours sleep every night should be our goal. He says that this means most of us simply have to add an extra hour to our sleeping schedules every day. Sleep is so important, we’re advised to adapt our entire schedules to meet this need, and protect ourselves from the health issues connected to sleep deprivation. Our GPs can give us advice if we find it difficult to sleep or suffer from insomnia.