Why We Need Sleep

Source: Photo by Anthony Tran at Unsplash

Just after midnight, on March 24, 1989, Third Mate Gregory Cousins fell asleep at the helm of the supertanker Exxon Valdez. After failing to change lanes, the tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Declared the worst oil spill in U.S. history (until the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010), the tanker spilled nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil into the sea. The oil slick spread over 1300 miles causing a massive die-off of wildlife (Barley, 2012).

Accident investigators determined that a workplace culture encouraged sleep deprivation which contributed to the disaster. Researchers estimate sleep problems cause about 13 percent of workplace accidents (Uehli et al., 2014).

Sleep Deprivation Damages Health

We pay a high price for missed sleep:

• Mortality risk increases with less than six hours of sleep per night (Fernandez-Mendoza et al., 2019).
• Increased risk of cardiovascular disease (Fernandez-Mendoza et al., 2019).
• Increased biomarkers for stress and inflammation (Tartar et al. 2015).
• Sleeping less than seven hours per night is linked to an increased risk of obesity (Cooper et al., 2018).

When we lose sleep, our brains and bodies miss out on restorative effects that help all body systems function properly. In addition, sleep loss hurts our relationships.

Sleep loss makes us more selfish.

A recent study found that lack of sleep makes us less generous, kind, and forgiving. Just one night of sleep loss makes us withdraw help from one another. When scientists look at functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain deprived of sleep, they see a deactivation of prosocial functioning.

If you reduce your sleep over several nights, you will be less helpful to others in your social interactions. On a societal level, the loss of one hour of sleep per night due to daylight savings time results in a 10 percent reduction in charitable giving (Simon et al., 2022).

How Can We Get More Sleep?

Getting more sleep can improve your health, relationships, and work performance. We can train ourselves to get good, regular sleep with a few habits.

1. Morning exposure to sunlight (between 8 am and 12 noon) improves the quality and quantity of sleep. It helps regulate our circadian rhythm influencing all body systems, including the sleep/wake cycle. Daily exposure to sunlight, even in gloomy winter, is also shown to improve mood and reduce depression. Take a walk each morning for a few minutes and notice your mood, productivity, and sleep quality improve.
2. Keep work, computers, phones, and other glowing devices out of the bedroom. Our body is aroused and motivated by light and calmed by darkness. If you train your brain to think of the bedroom as a place for rest, it's easier to wind down, fall asleep, and remain asleep until morning.
3. If stress keeps you up at night, it's best to leave the bedroom and hand write all your worries in a journal. Then when you feel drowsy again, go back to bed. You want to break the association between stress and your bed. Journaling can help you clarify your concerns. You can better address those worries during the light of day.
4. Learning a meditation technique such as mindful breathing or a simple body scan exercise can help you let go of the day, relax, and fall into a peaceful slumber.
5. Go to bed at about the same time every day, including on weekends. If you have a pattern of staying up late on weekends and then sleeping in, you'll find it harder to get to sleep and wake up refreshed during the work week.

Try for seven or more hours of sleep per night for improved mood, energy, and productivity. Good sleep can also improve the quality of your relationships. Snoozing in our cozy covers longer might make the world kinder too.