When I coach people on our six areas of focus for improving their health and happiness, sleep is always the topic where I feel we can gain so much return for so little effort! Research tells us that about 1/3 of Americans don’t get the recommended 7-9 hours of nightly sleep and that this sleep deprivation increases our risk of dying from any cause (e.g; cancer, heart attack, stroke.) This is tremendous - it means that just catching a few more Zs on a consistent basis can help you avoid a host of chronic diseases and live longer! If I was prescribing a pill that could accomplish this with no side effects, folks would be lined up around the block to get one! Yet I find that when our lives become busy, sleep is often the first thing to go. This has always perplexed me since sleep is nearly unanimously enjoyable and most of us are convinced of nothing if not how tired we are. I’ve come to believe that the reason people struggle to prioritize sleep is that we just don’t value it as a culture.
As someone who has run the gamut of medical training from student to resident to fellow, I’ve worn the badge of honor that comes with severe sleep deprivation in our society. This is similar to other professionals regardless of their industry, especially in the early years of their careers. We receive a pat on the back from our predecessors as sleep deprivation becomes a right of passage and a sign of work ethic. This philosophy carries over to being a young parent and the applause we get for the balancing act of waking up all night and then functioning all day. Yet we can all feel the ramifications of this state even if we are not specifically aware of the data. In a sleep deprived state, we are cognitively slower, we we are less productive at work, and we are more prone to anxiety and depression. Neuroscience shows us that our brains are working differently, predisposing us to craving savory and salty foods which partially explains the increased rates of obesity and diabetes seen in people who are chronically sleep deprived. The latest research on dementia illustrates that people who skimp on sleep for one night demonstrate on MRI some of the structural brain changes seen in Alzheimers - a preliminary scientific finding but a very compelling one for me!
I present you with with all of this data for one reason- to help you decide that sleep is a priority in your life going forward. Remember, many of the recommendations made in this column are simple but we have difficulty consistently implementing them unless we are living intentionally. Are you truly seeking to become the happiest and healthiest version of yourself? If so, awesome! Start by getting just fifteen more minutes of sleep a night. In one month, you will have logged an extra 7.5 hours. This is a meaningful number and a fantastic start to your journey!