Sleep Deprivation and its Consequences

Background Information

1. Sleep disturbance is naturally occurring in all human beings – sleep is designed to be interrupted and disrupted, and that is probably protective of us – we are designed to be anxious, and for such anxiety to disrupt our sleep – sleeping through reasonable anxiety would probably, as nomads, get us eaten.
2. Sleep disturbance is ordinary and is not sleep deprivation – sleep deprivation is a repeating, enduring, pattern of sleep disturbance, that means we get less sleep than we, as humans, are designed to survive on.
3. A mature adult should get around eight hours sleep each night – a child requires more, an older adult less. As a general guide, the number of hours sleep an individual human requires is:

   * 0 – 3 mths: 14 to 17
   * 4 – 11 mths: 12 to 16
   * 1 – 2 yrs: 11 to 14
   * 3 – 5 yrs: 10 to 13 
   * 6 – 12 yrs: 9 to 12 
   * 13 – 18 yrs: 8 to 10 
   * 18 – 64 yrs: 7 to 9 .
   * 65 + yrs: 7 to 8 

4. Before the invention of wholly artificial light, the cycle of night into day into night, regulated individual and collective human sleep patterns – work in daylight, sleep at night. Electric light collapses day into night. Humans now work, socialise, recreate, at night – they, compromise on sleep, in a way that rapidly becomes sleep deprivation.
5. Sleep is vital to the functioning of the physical body. Less than six hours of solid sleep each night, for the average adult, is sleep deprivation. The body needs to rest, recoup energy spent in the day, to clear the mind.

Consequences of Sleep Deprivation

1. Sleep deprivation compromises the immune system, increasing vulnerability, and the risk of infection – especially with apnoea. In this, the aesthetically perfect complementarity between the adrenal system and the immune system is critical.
2. Sleep deprivation correlates with accidents – traffic, motor vehicle, domestic, industrial – now a compelling issue in relationship to zero-tolerance drug policies in the workplace, and the use of methamphetamine based injectables that remain in the bloodstream for three-days or less. This has produced a significant increase in employees returning to work after a short-break, technically clean, but sleep-deprived, after a three-plus-day break using methamphetamine related substances.
3. Sleep deprivation often leaves a person irritable, reactive, easily hurt and wounded, frustrated, more likely to conflict or dispute, not thinking before speaking or doing, saying or doing things they later regret. With a night’s sleep, a person is usually better equipped to respond appropriately to the challenges of the day.
4. Whilst genetics and diet are key determinants, sleep deprivation increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes – appears to be a relationship between sleep and the processing of glucose –
   less than five hours sleep leaves the human body compromised in this regard.
5. Sleep deprivation and weight gain are correlated – appetite and metabolism are altered when sleep is compromised – may well contradict the benefits of any diet. Those who sleep less than seven hours per night are more likely to put on weight than those who sleep longer – suggestion is that sleep deprivation has a double impact – leaves a person dissatisfied with their usual food intake plus increases that person’s appetite.
6. Suggestion is that sleep deprivation increases the risk of heart disease. A healthy heart requires sufficient, regular sleep. Sleep deprivation increases blood pressure, and body inflammation.
7. Sleep deprivation affects the skin and skin quality – deprives the body of important hormones for repairing itself. Prevents thickening of the skin and strengthening bones.
8. Suggestion is that sleep deprivation lowers the amount of reproductive hormones the body produces, negatively impacting upon fertility, making it more difficult to conceive and have children.
9. Sleep deprivation affects short term memory. Appropriate sleep boosts memory functioning.
10. Sleep deprivation is directly associated with a shorter lifespan. The better you sleep, the longer you live. UK study (Whitehall 2) – employees who slept the least doubled their risk of death.
11. To deal with sleep deprivation – go to bed around 9.30pm – the time melatonin naturally kicks in.
12. Too little sleep and too much sleep have the same effect – both change brain and body biochemistry.
13. Sleep is designed to clear a person’s head of the accumulated crap of the day.
14. A good night’s sleep also allows a person to filter ‘crap’, so that there is less to clear.
15. Sleep deprivation affects the entire nervous system from the brain to the gut via the vagus nerve. A huge amount of information enters the human body and brain via the gut and travels through the vagus nerve, an information highway inside the human body.
16. When a person is sleep-deprived they have a biochemical alteration in the brain, gut and in their whole body – entire nervous system and body biochemistry is affected.

How to Manage Sleep Deprivation

1. How to fix or manage sleep deprivation and its consequences.
   a. Go to bed 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. – melatonin kick-in time.
   b. Exercise first thing in the morning, not at night – robust – enough to counteract the alterations to biochemistry.
   c. Get direct sunlight into your eyes – as used with jetlag – do not wear sunglasses.
   d. Sleep in total darkness – get a mask
   e. Sleep in total silence – get earplugs
   f. Remove all distractions from the room – including books and technology
   g. All ‘normal’ humans require a strategy and rituals for getting their sleep pattern back in order – get a sleep routine for 
   i. Getting to sleep 
   ii. Getting back to sleep 
   iii. What to do if strategy and rituals for i. & ii don’t work.