Sleep deprivation is a way of life for many Americans or others in western worlds. Sometimes you have to put in a lot of extra hours during the day to get things accomplished. For instance, for some people as soon as they get home from work there are additional duties to perform. These duties may include running the kids to practice, making dinner and helping with homework, cleaning up and getting the bills paid. It’s not easy to work and perform these additional duties all in one day, but it is something that has to be done.
We spend so much time rushing and hurrying until we leave very little time for sleeping. Many of us struggle to get things done daily. When we finally go to bed we find ourselves unable to sleep for thinking about things we did not get accomplished.
Our lifestyles greatly affect how much sleep we get. If you are fatigued and sleepless these are symptoms of sleep deprivation which can be caused by your lifestyle choices. There are several lifestyle choices you make that cause sleep deprivation. Some are:
. Assuming too much caffeine – Caffeine is a stimulant that keeps you awake at night even when it’s drunk several hours before bedtime.
. Your work shift – When your job requires you to work different hours from one day to the next sleep deprivation becomes almost a way of life.
. You may be too busy with other faucets of life to get enough sleep.
If you think you have sleep deprivation your lifestyle is probably partially the blame for it. Take a look at your lifestyle and see if you are doing anything that could be causing this condition. If possible, make changes to your lifestyle so sleep deprivation does not affect you physically, mentally or emotionally.
If you answer yes to a couple of these, most likely you are sleep deprived.
LONG WORK HOURS
Staying at work way beyond the normal eight hours is the biggest determinant of how much sleep Americans get in a typical day. Overtime is a common occurrence in many industries. In the culture of many organizations, to work just eight hours could actually be considered skipping out early. Mathias Basner, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine studied 47,731 Americans. He found that those who worked longer hours found time for other activities by shortening their sleep hours.
INSOMNIA CAUSED BY WORRY
When you have concerns on your mind about work, it can be difficult to sleep at night. In order to combat this sleeplessness, many people have an alcoholic drink or take sleeping medicines to fall asleep. The problem with these is that you have lighter sleep and don't have the REM phase of sleep that is so restorative to the brain.
SHIFT WORK
When you are working at times when you normally would be sleeping, you disrupt your circadian rhythm. This rhythm is the cycle your body repeats day after day. Shift work sleep disorder has effects very similar to jet lag. Shift work affects people in various industries: medicine, production lines, technology, telephone service reps, transportation. We also need light in our days to produce the melatonin needed for quality sleep. Having to sleep in the daytime when you are on a night shift deprives you of sunlight.
LONG COMMUTE
Travel time, including time sitting in traffic, can take up a large portion of your day. It could be considered one of the hidden costs to living out in the suburbs. To make up for the loss of those hours, it's tempting to shorten sleep time. Fatigue caused by the lack of sleep can make the commute dangerous as well as stressful. Sleep-deprived drivers cause more than 100,000 automobile crashes a year (National Sleep Foundation).
LOGGING INTO YOUR OFFICE COMPUTER FROM HOME
What a wonderful technological advancement to be able to log into your work computer from home! Or is it? When does work stop and leisure begin? Working on your sofa with your laptop while trying to participate in family time is not effective for either activity. And how tempting it is to continue work in the quiet of the night to catch up on what you didn't feel complete from your day! To transition from working at the computer to falling asleep can be difficult also, resulting in an even later start to sleep.
UNHEALTHY EATING
Working long hours and not taking breaks during the day can lead to too much time between food intake and poor food choices. Late business dinners or dinners with clients can mean a very full stomach when heading to bed. This can have an adverse effect on the quality of your sleep.
LACKOF EXERCISE
Exercise is often forgotten with not enough time or energy left over after work demands are met. And exercising too late in the evening can also make it difficult to get to sleep. Getting up early enough in the morning to exercise can be a real challenge when you do not have enough sleep during the night.
If some of these factors are influencing your sleep, you may want to look for solutions that can help you move toward taking better care of yourself. Over a period of time, the effects on you from sleep deprivation build up and can cause a multitude of physical, mental, and emotional problems.
If you have employees, be aware that these challenges to their sleep and other self-care can be very detrimental to their productivity and attendance on the job.
Both Leonard Garrett & Suzanne Holman are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Leonard Garrett has sinced written about articles on various topics from Stress Management, Fitness and Sleep Disorder. About The Author:Leonard Garrett has been providing health news and home business opportunitieson the internet for over six years. Visit his sites at: