Sleep deprivation is universal and extremely common in the western world. This problem affects millions of people all over the world due to the high paced and mechanical lifestyle, causing a lack of time to get the rest we need and want. It may also be caused due to some genuine disorders, either due to some psychological problems or maybe chronic insomnia. Most of us are not really taught how to get better sleep and rest better in our daily life. As a result the total cost in lost man hours, production and precious lives are so huge and often it defies human imagination.

Deprivation of sleep means an overall deficiency in the necessary amount of sleeping hours, that a person is supposed to have in a day. The problem may occur due to diurnal changes in the mind and body, or also due to extreme insomnia. It may also be artificial, being induced by another person or your own baby. Lack of sufficient sleep is considered very dangerous and very unhealthy and as such must not be tried by any person. However, in some clinical cases of psychology, it actually may help some patients with certain mental illness.

Sleep deprivation causes serious changes in body physiology and mental composure; lack of it may result in irritability, vision impairment, stuttering speech, momentary loss of reasoning, confusions, hallucination and nausea. A consistent lack of sleep may result in a condition known as fatal familial insomnia and chronic dementia, and also leads to people becoming overweight and obese, and such physical transformation will eventually lead to other medical risks and complicated problems.

Recent research shows that not getting enough rest has the same hazardous effects as being in a drunken state. Sleeping for less than 6 hours a night has been shown to affect your coordination, judgment, mental alertness and reaction and will also lead to muscular deficiencies, when the mind gradually looses its control over the muscle, which ultimately leads to Muscular-skeletal diseases. The average adult is said to need between 6-8 hours, 8 hours or more for college students and teens and this figure is even higher for young children and babies.

Sleeping disorders are very common in cases of college going young adults, when they try hard to stay wake during the night to study for their tests and examinations or when partying with their friends. A prolonged loss of sleep may result in daytime lethargy and laziness, which will eventually leads to poor academic or business and work performance as well as lack of social interest. Late night parties and bashes will cause a serious loss in the total budget, as many people invariably get drunk and loose sleep in the process.

Sleep is a precious and natural gift provided to maintain a clean and healthy body rhythm and accurate biological clock; an intrusion in such a natural rhythm is always undesirable and disadvantageous to our body and can lead to more serious problems and complications in the long run.