Sleep

Sleep… something everyone in the world does. No matter how much you try to stay awake, eventually, you will succumb to the desire to close your eyes. Once you do, you start dreaming. However there are some people who don’t sleep long enough and suffer from what is called “sleep deprivation”

Sleep deprivation is a result of a lack of sleep. Sleep deprivation affects many things in your daily activity, such as mood, physical health as well as daytime performance and activity. Evidence of this includes: “Sleep-deficient children may feel angry and impulsive, have mood swings, feel sad or depressed, or lack motivation.” So if you find someone sad, depressed or has mood swings, maybe they just feel a bit “tired.” “Research shows that not getting enough sleep, or getting poor-quality sleep, increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.” as well as, “Lack of sleep exacts a toll on perception and judgment. In the workplace, its effects can be seen in reduced efficiency and productivity, errors, and accidents.” An example is when someone suffering from sleep deprivation is shown a very simple math problem, that person, for some reason will find it extremely difficult to solve.

There is also something a person may experience when sleep deprived which is called “microsleep” in which even though you’re awake with eyes open, you sleep for a brief period of time. Lack of sleep also may lead to microsleep. Microsleep refers to brief moments of sleep that occur when you're normally awake. You can't control microsleep, and you might not be aware of it.” An example of this is when someone is listening to a lecture but that person can’t remember a single detail even though they were awake.

Animal research strongly suggests that it is possible a person could die of sleep deprivation if they stay awake for too long. “In the 1980s, a University of Chicago researcher named Allan Rechtschaffen conducted a series of groundbreaking experiments on rats. After 32 days of total sleep deprivation, all the rats were dead.” The amount of time depends on the person. Sleep deprivation however, may not actually bring your demise. There has yet to be an incident where death was related to sleep deficiency towards a human being. However, if you are sixteen years-old and are allowed to drive, you may face a very unfortunate accident if you experience a microsleep while driving… or you might actually do fall asleep. “It is estimated that sleepiness is a factor in about 100,000 car accidents resulting in about 1,500 deaths.”

I really don’t understand people who think sleep is a waste of time or something because it really, REALLY isn’t. In fact, I suggest that people should sleep longer. One reason would be that you would probably be able to live longer if you do as you would be awake when you’re driving. Another reason would be that, I personally think sleep is one of the best things that a human can do. That would be because while sleeping, I don’t have to think about anything that I have to do later on.

Sources:

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sleep-deprivation-and-deficiency

https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/sleep/conditioninfo/Pages/sleep-deprivation.aspx

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/consequences

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/05/can_you_die_from_lack_of_sleep.html