Are you getting less than six hours of sleep a night? You’re not alone (according to the Centers for Disease Control, about one-third of the American working population is in your shoes). But you are sleep deprived. And new research has shown that chronic sleep deprivation is as bad for your brain as binge drinking.

Dr. Adrian Owen, a neuroscientist at Western University and the Chief Scientific Officer of Cambridge Brain Scientists, recently launched the biggest sleep study in the world in order to better understand the connection between health and sleep, especially as people are working harder – and sleeping less – than ever before.

“We know that this sleep disruption affects us in some ways and that some people feel the impact more than others,” says Owen in a press release for the study, which began this summer. “But there’s surprisingly little research into exactly how our brains deal with these sleep deficits.”

Here’s what we do know: most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep per night – any less than that, and you’re sleep deprived. And you can’t make up for lost sleep on the weekends.

“You can’t work very hard throughout the week, getting only six hours, and then somehow on the weekend think that you’re going to sleep more and be able to catch up on your sleep,” explains Dr. Farrell Cahill, PhD., Head of Research at Medisys Health Group. “That’s not how this works. “

“From a neurological perspective,” says Owen, “When you lose sleep, consider it gone forever.”

While the myriad of ways in which sleep deprivation is hurting us still hold a few secrets, here are just three ways that we already know chronic sleep deprivation can be hazardous for your health.

1. You’re more likely to suffer acute cognitive impairment.

This 2007 study is just one of many showing the links between sleep deprivation and cognitive impairment, notably problems with attention, working memory, long-term memory, and decision-making.

But Owen notes that more recent research has found that lack of sleep can go as far as disrupting emotional processing – which is no surprise to anyone who’s felt so frazzled that they get incensed at things that don’t merit quite so intense an emotional response (like tripping over a pair of shoes left in the hall or getting an e-mail requesting more information from a co-worker).

“The brain becomes less stable the longer you are awake, diminishing your ability to focus your cognitive resources where they are needed,” Owen explains to Medisys, noting that in one recent study, sleep-deprived individuals were shown to have less connectivity between active areas in the brain.

In fact, Farrell, writes that such impairment can grow to be so dire that driving while sleep deprived can be equivalent to drunk driving. Someone who wakes at 5:30am and is driving home at 11:30pm, Farrell notes, has the same cognitive impairment as someone with a blood alcohol level of 0.1 percent; in the United States, driving with a blood alcohol concentration at or above .08 is a crime.

2. You’re more likely to suffer from weight issues.

While getting exercise and eating right might seem like the two biggest contributing factors to healthy weight, it turns out that getting enough sleep is just as important – if not more so. After all, when you have enough sleep, you have more energy and are thus better able to make it to the gym, spin class, or even go for a walk on your lunch hour.

But getting enough sleep is also essential for your body’s ability to regulate its hormones properly, including those that influence hunger: cortisol, leptin, and all-important ghrelin, which Farrell notes is “the only appetite-stimulating hormone that we know of.”

“When it increases in circulation, it causes our brain to believe that we need to eat,” he says. “It makes us believe that we are hungry when we might not be.”

“Lack of sleep,” he continues, “appears to cause an increase in ghrelin, which therefore falsely signals to our body that we need to eat.”

Not only does this hormone imbalance contribute to weight gain, but long-term, it can also contribute to diseases linked to weight gain and obesity, including heart disease, metabolic diseases, and type-2 diabetes.

3. You’re more likely to get sick.

Sleep deprivation also weakens the immune system. A recent study from the University of Washington showed that in sets of twins, the twin with the shorter sleep duration had a more depressed immune system.

“What we show is that the immune system functions best when it gets enough sleep,” says lead author Dr. Nathaniel Watson, co-director of the UW Medicine Sleep Center at Harborview Medical Center. “The results are consistent with studies that show when sleep deprived people are given a vaccine, there is a lower antibody response and if you expose sleep deprived people to a rhinovirus they are more likely to get the virus.”

Senior author Dr. Sina Gharib, also noted that limited sleep deprivation in laboratory settings has previously been shown to increase inflammatory markers and activate immune cells, yet more data consistent with the theory that a proper amount of sleep is essential for optimal health.

How to Get Better Quality Sleep

These are just some of the reasons it’s important for us to commit to at least seven – and up to nine – hours of sleep a night (which might mean skipping your favorite show and getting back on the bedtime wagon). But even if you feel like you don’t have time to get more sleep, there are probably a few steps that you can do to ensure that, at the very least, you’re getting quality sleep.

Our experts recommend:

• Exercising regularly to promote better sleep
• Reducing stress to help you fall asleep more easily
• Avoiding caffeine, to keep you from getting too wired at night
• Unplugging devices, to make your bedroom a more relaxing place (and steer clear of blue light, which has been clinically shown to affect melatonin and thus be bad for sleep)
• Keeping a constant sleep schedule of at least seven hours a night (and trying to stick to that schedule on Saturday and Sunday, too)

And above all, try to take a few things off your plate.

“Sleep deprivation is driven by our society, our need to achieve specific goals,” says Farrell. Bear in mind that you’ve only got 24 hours in the day, and about a third of that should be spent recharging so that you can enjoy and take full advantage of your waking hours.

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The post You’re Probably Sleep Deprived – And That’s Not the Worst News appeared first on EcoSalon.

If you have trouble sleeping, welcome to the club. Let’s have t-shirts made.

Plenty of things get in the way of a proper night’s sleep – caffeine, sugar, noisy neighbors, construction – but the primary blame has become technology. Smartphones. iPads. Laptops. Televisions. E-Readers. We spend so much time in front of a screen that many of us have turned into caffeine-riddled, blink-deprived ladies. (In fact, there are days when I feel like that guy in “The Shining”.)

That being said, we don’t have to let technology become our mortal enemy. While we’re advised to keep screens away from our bedroom, most of us now use our cell phones as both our home phone and alarm clock – so why not instead use it to our REM cycle’s advantage?

If you’re having trouble sleeping, here are 7 fabulous sleep apps to give you a hand:

1. Sleep Cycle
When an abrasive alarm wakes you up during a deep sleep cycle, you wake up feeling completely wrecked and stumble through the day. Sleep Cycle is an alarm that uses the accelerometer feature in your iPhone to monitor your movement and track which sleep phase you’re in. It then uses this information to wake you up when you’re in the lightest sleep phase. Your body tells your alarm when to wake you up, instead of the other way around.

2. Noisil
One of the biggest reasons why I have trouble sleeping is my inability to shut my mind off. For as long as I can remember (seriously, Internet was barely a thing yet), the only way I could fall asleep was with the television on. Enter Noisli: An ambient noise app that lets you choose the sounds you want to fall asleep to and how long you want to listen to them.

3. Recharge
This is the sleep app I’m most excited to try: It’s perfect for those of us whose schedules are an absolute mess almost as soon as we wake up in the morning. Recharge isn’t just a sleep app: It’s a 6-week program that aims to get you back into a healthy sleep and exercise schedule (because let’s face it: When we’re stressed, these are the two areas of our lives that suffer most).

4. Sleep Genius
The Sleep Genius app has many uber-cool features: Instead of an abrasive alarm, it gradually wakes you up with a gentle five-minute Revive Cycle that helps you wake up from any sleep stage in a stress-free way (for example, if you set your alarm for 7am, the progressive alarm will start at 6:55am). It also has a Relaxation Program that helps you calm your body and mind before bed, a Power Nap feature, and specialized sleep reports to help you constantly improve the quality of your rest.

5. Sleepbot
Similar to Sleep Cycle, Sleepbot tracks how you sleep and wakes you up during your lightest sleep stage. It will also make suggestions for how to score higher-quality sleep, such as what to eat (and what not to) before bed and exercises that promote sleep.

6. Power Nap
No matter how much I’ve had trouble sleeping, naps just make things worse. I either take too long to fall asleep, or my nap accidentally turns into a coma. That’s where Power Nap comes in: This super-handy, super-reasonable app makes sure you get the most from your naps without messing up your sleep that night.

7. iHome Sleep
iHome Sleep is basically the smartest alarm clock ever. On top of your regular alarm, there’s also a nap alarm, bedtime and wake up reminders, and stress-free wake options so you can start your day the way you want to. It also allows you to track the amount of sleep you’re getting with statistics and a sleep log, which will help you hone in on what’s making you have trouble sleeping.

Do you use sleep apps when you’re having trouble sleeping?

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Image: dave elf

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Sleep deprivation is all too common among adults today. Just because there are a host of stimulants, such as coffee, that can infuse you with energy to get through a rough morning or afternoon sluggishness, doesn’t mean you are beating the system.

Sleep is crucial to your body’s proper functioning and not getting enough can affect your overall health. Don’t hit snooze on sleep deprivation — get enough rest and reap the rewards.

Sleep allows the body to cleanse and renew itself, and gives your brain a chance to brain sort information and replace vital chemicals. While your brain is asleep, your body is working to gear up for the day ahead. Interrupting or eliminating sleep only puts you at a disadvantage during waking hours.

An estimated 40 million Americans endure sleep problems, though only 20 percent discuss it with their doctors. Because of this, many sleep disorders go undiagnosed. Getting enough sleep is more than just a matter of health; it can be the difference between life and death. According to the Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation causes 100,000 automobile crashes, 71,000 injuries, and more than 1,500 deaths per year. Sleep disorders also cost Americans more than $100 billion per year. 

Cognitive performance is compromised with a lack of sleep. It also impairs temporary memory despite other conditions promoting optimal performance. In one study, participants’ visual short-term memory was tested. The results were clear: visual short-term memory is comprised during sleep deprivation, an effect compounded by delay. In another study, people who stayed awake for up to 19 hours scored worse on performance and alertness tests than those who were legally drunk! And much like a boozy night out, sleep deprivation also has the potential to produce false memories.

In a German study, subjects learned a list of semantically associated words and were told to either stay awake or sleep immediately after recognition was tested. When they were tested again after a 44-hour period, those who endured sleep deprivation were shown to have critically false memories of the theme words.

And if all of that isn’t enough to make you go to bed on time, maybe this will: a lack of sleep can intervene with dietary weight loss efforts. Even if you are counting the calories and hitting the gym regularly, insufficient sleep can compromise the effectiveness of typical dietary interventions for weight loss and related metabolic risk reduction. Consider sleep a part of the weight loss formula – get enough and you’re even closer to your goals.

So why take for granted perhaps the most important part of the day? Sufficient sleep will help you perform better during wake hours. Find you mark — between 7 and 9 hours per night for most people — and try to hit it every night, even if it means hopping into bed an hour earlier.

Related on EcoSalon:

20 Foods to Help You Sleep Better

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Image Credit: Ed Yourdon

The post How Sleep Deprivation Affects the Body’s Processes appeared first on EcoSalon.

Blame Thomas Edison (or Heinrich Göbel if you must split hairs). Ever since the invention of the lightbulb, humans have stopped spending the hours after sunset huddled in bed, terrified of marauders and werewolves and bad night air. Instead we’ve been tripping the artificial light fantastic – staying late at work, going out to movie theaters, nightclubs, and bars, and obsessively checking Facebook. As a result, the average night’s sleep for Westerners has gone from roughly nine hours to seven over the past hundred years.

And that’s why you’re going to die, at least according to a series of studies recently published in academic journal Sleep. The combined studies were culled from Europe, Asia, and North America and monitored more than one-and-a-half million subjects. Turns out sleeping less than six hours a night increases your chance of premature death by 12 percent.

No problem, you say? You’ll just chug half a bottle of Nyquil and up the shut-eye quotient? Well, that’ll kill you just as dead, according to some more science. The body’s natural response to the flow of night and day – the circadian rhythm – has been evolutionarily been fine-tuned over millions of years. When the sun goes down and the body stops receiving external light, it starts producing melatonin (a sleep-inducing chemical), turns off responses to stress, and performs other healing tasks.

One of the more prominent links to poor sleep habits is constant exposure to blue LEDs. You know, laptops, TVs, iPads; those little gadgets grafted onto your skin throughout the day. Traitors! I always knew that my computer would kill me one day – I just hoped it would be in an epic, 2001-style outer-space-showdown, not a coward’s attack while I’m sleepy and defenseless.

Image: Alyssa L. Miller

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