Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation comes in commonly known forms such as insomnia and apnea. Millions of people world wide suffer from lack of sleep and irregular sleeping patterns, which effects their daily lives in various negative ways. Sleep is crucial in order for your body to re-energise itself and replacing muscular energy which is lost throughout the day.
The optimum recommended average amount of sleep needed by most adults is seven to eight hours per night, however this can differ greatly between individuals, some require over ten hours whereas others may only need and survive okay after four hours sleep.
If you do not experience feeling tired or drowsy during the daytime, and are able to perform your daily tasks feeling awake with enough energy, then this is generally a sign that you are receiving adequate sleep of a night time. The amount of sleep an individual needs depends on their lifestyle, factors such as age, weight, diet, and stress levels all affect an individual’s sleeping patterns and requirements.
It is not just the quantity of sleep that affects an individual, but the quality, for instance five hours restful solid sleep is much more beneficial to an individual than twelve hours of broken and disturbed sleep. Sleep deprivation can affect how you function during the day and how alert you are. Growth hormones that are at work when we sleep, are essential to part of a healthy lifestyle as they create both physical and psychological development and well being.
There are thousand of accidents every year which occur when people operating dangerous and heavy machinery experience sleep deprivation, proving how sleep is crucial in order to carry out daily tasks and certain employment areas are very high risk without it. A recent study has also indicated that one in four high school student have recently fallen asleep during a class, which proves just how sleep deprivation can affect all ages and is such a vital part to maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle.