Things You Must Know About Sleep

by: Robin Lloyd LiveScience Senior Editor LiveScience.com Sun Aug 3, 9:16 PM ET


Learning Objective: At the end of the session, the students are expected to be able to identify the benefits or explain in a paragraph the importance of sleep. More than that, they are also expected to develop critical thinking skills as they comment on the article being discussed in this session.



You're tired. You could put your head down on a desk right now and fall asleep immediately. You went to bed late last night, had trouble falling asleep and woke up too early. And let's not kid ourselves: Tonight will be the same unless... well, read on.


Questions to consider:


Why do we need sleep?

Why do some people can't sleep?

How do we get a good sleep?

What are the benefits of having enough sleep?

How do you explain having "enough sleep"?

Here are five recent findings that might help you rest easier:

1. We sleep better than we think we do

For most of us, sleep deprivation is a myth. We're not zombies. The non-profit National Sleep Foundation (which takes money from the sleep-aid industry, including drug companies that make sleeping pills) says the average U.S. resident gets 7 hours a night and that's not enough, but a University of Maryland study earlier this year shows we typically get 8 hours and are doing fine. In fact, Americans get just as much sleep nowadays as they did 40 years ago, the study found.


2. We need less sleep as we age

We'll die without sleep. The details are sketchy, but research suggests it's a time when we restore vital biological processes and also sort and cement memories. Last year, the World Health Organization determined that nightshift work, which can lead to sleep troubles, is a probable human carcinogen. On the upside, the latest research suggests we need less of it as we get older.

3. You can sleep like a baby (or Thomas Edison)

Multiple, shorter sleep sessions nightly, rather than one long one, are an option. So-called polyphasic sleep is seen in babies, the elderly and other animals (and Thomas Edison reportedly slept this way). For the rest of us, it is more realistic and healthy to sleep at night as best we can and then take naps as needed. EEGs show that we are biphasic sleepers with two alertness dips - one at night time and one mid-day. So talk to HR about setting up a nap room, like they have for NASA's Phoenix mission team members.


4. Animals exhibit a range of sleep habits

The three-toed sloth sleeps 9.6 hours nightly. But newborn dolphins and killer whales can forgo sleeping for their entire first month. However, the latter extreme is not recommended for humans. We grow irritable and lose our ability to focus and make decisions after even one night of missed sleep, and that can lead to serious accidents driving and using other machinery.

5. Get used to being tired, hit the desk
The bottom line is that a good night's sleep is within the reach of most of us if we follow common-sense guidelines for sleep hygiene.


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