While You Weren't Sleeping A Wake-Up Call for the Sleep-Deprived: "When You Snooze, You Win" from "Healthwise Highlights", Vol. 4 No. 1, Fall 1995, Columbia University Health Service http://www.columbia.edu/cu/healthwise/hw41.html#20 While You Weren't Sleeping Do you ever dream about curling up for a nice, long nap...in class or at the office? Do daily waves of fatigue sweep over you, bringing to the surface warm memories of nursery school siestas where short stories and slumber sessions were the rule? Why are so many of us so sleepy? Maybe David Letterman is to blame. Perhaps pulling all-nighters at Butler or the Broadway Dive provide the answer. Whatever the reason, new research suggests that our epidemic of sleep deprivation affects more than our ability to stay awake on the job. It turns out that 100 million Americans do not get enough sleep. While there is some individual variation, the most zzz-deprived group of all is high school and college students who study and socialize well into the wee hours of the morning. In fact, according to Dr. James Maas, a Cornell University researcher, 17- to 25-year-olds need almost as much sleep as very young children...nearly ten hours a night for optimal rest and functioning. The average college student, however, racks up only six, resulting in sleep debt. Thanks to homeostasis - the body's constant quest for balance - we must eventually pay this sleep debt, usually through afternoon naps, sleeping late on the weekend, or dare we say, a quick snooze in the lecture hall. Seems innocent enough, but here's the real eye-opener: a study published in Psychosomatic Medicine (November-December 1994) found that until sleep debt is paid off, our infection-fighting immune cells are charged interest. Researchers in San Diego deprived twenty-three men aged 22 to 61 o f four hours of sleep (from 3 to 7 a.m.) for just one night, and found that the activity of cells that fight viral infections was markedly reduced in all of the subjects the morning following sleep loss. The next night, the subjects were allowed a full night's sleep, which was followed by a full immune cell recovery the next morning. Preliminary results from the same study also show decreased immune cell activity from sleep loss during the earlier part of the evening. It stands to reason then, say investigators, that repeated sleep loss means longer stretches of impaired immune system function. Back on campus, sleep, or the lack thereof, has also been linked to food and alcohol consumption. A National Institutes of Health study concluded that we eat more when we are tired, while Stanford University researchers found that just one glass of win e had the same effect on a sleep-deprived college student as a six-pack of beer did on a well-rested subject. Concentration, memory, reaction time, and the ability to deal with stressors are also compromised by inadequate sleep sessions. Wake Up and Smell the Coffee Many of us stay up long after our biological clocks say "it's bedtime." Anthropologists believe that the eight hours of nightly sleep required by most people today were genetically programmed when the first humans walked the earth along the equator - where it is dark for just over eight hours per day. Sleep problems arise when we step out of sync with this circadian rhythm that would otherwise wake us up naturally with the rising sun and send us to bed soon after dark. But, with lots of places to go, people to see, and things to do, sleep has become our sacrificial lamb. Over the past thirty years, Americans' average sleep period has dropped from eight to seven hours nightly. Will the proliferation of coffee bars, information superhighway construction, an d channel-surfing sites mean even more shaving of sleep time in the next century? Will the issue of productivity, at the expense of individual health, be prominent on the health care reform agenda? If research continues to solidify the virtues of sleep, real savings may be found between the sheets. Sleep Seattle, Sleep! By now, you are probably wide-eyed with wonder about how all of these sleep stats are going to get you back on the same dance card with your natural rhythm, and on the road to better health. Here are some recommendations from sleep experts: Go to bed fifteen to twenty minutes earlier each night for week-blocks at a time until you find yourself sufficiently awake during the day. Power nap if you can't increase your nightly sleep sessions. Even napping for a few minutes can temporarily boost mental and physical functioning. Don't force yourself to fall or return to sleep. Read, write a letter, or watch an old movie until you become tired. Sleep during the same set of hours, for the same number of hours, each night once you have established a sleep schedule that works best for you. Address stress, anxiety, depression, and other sleep-depriving disorders by learning relaxation techniques or talking with a counselor. Exercise regularly, but don't exercise or eat during the three to four hours preceding your bedtime. The energizing effects of aerobic activity, for instance, can last for hours after your last flight on the Stairmaster. Consider reducing or eliminating alcohol and other drug use, which often interrupt sleep because of their long-lasting impact on metabolism. Write to-do lists for the following day, including strategies for reaching these goals just before bedtime. Planning and problem-solving on paper may reduce anxiety-ridden dreams about the tasks you must complete. In the interest of laying a solid foundation for good health, perhaps Broadway producer, director, and writer George Abbott gave the wisest advice. When asked for the secret to longevity on his 103rd birthday, he said, "Have a good time, and go home when you're tired."