Wellness THE
ISSUE
Improve Your Wellness by Improving Your Sleep BY GRACE R. DENAULT, BA, RPSGT, RST, CCSH
Historically we have lived in a culture that celebrates sacrificing sleep. There was a time in our culture when people boasted about how little sleep they get and still function well in the same way they boasted about how much they could drink and still “drive okay.” The good news is that just as our culture no longer views drunk driving as benign, attitudes towards sleep deprivation are starting to recognize the impairments bestowed upon us by sleep deprivation. Science and, increasingly, society are no longer oblivious to the detriment on our functioning from sleep deprivation. Poor sleep is physically harmful to the body in the form of weakened immunity, decreased sex drive, increased risks for high blood pressure, diabetes, weight gain, and heart disease. Good quality and adequate quantities of sleep have been shown to be vital to maintaining optimal cognitive functioning, learning, establishing long term memories, complex decision making and reaction time, 24
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not to mention mood and emotional coping skills!
Good sleep is finally becoming recognized as the third pillar of health, alongside good nutrition and good exercise.
Studies have found that in the United States over 100,000 motor vehicle accidents annually are related to sleep. Indirect costs related to sleep problems such as accidents, litigation, and property destructions are thought to be $50 to $110 billion annually. It is estimated that 40 million Americans suffer from chronic, long-term sleep disorders. Fortunately sleep deprivation as a badge of honor is starting to fade away. We are starting to realize that even though we can “get by” on a few hours of sleep, we should not accept that any more than we accept “getting by” on french fries and ice cream as our only nutrition! Good sleep is finally becoming recognized as the third pillar of health, alongside good nutrition and good exercise. So with all that being said, how can you improve your sleep? The first steps
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hink back to the last time you talked with someone about how much sleep you (or they) got the night before. Were one or both of you boasting about how little it was? In groups, this frequently turns into folks trying to “win” by being the one who slept less than all of the others and still does “okay” through the day.
