I have just read a whole chapter on sleep. What it is, why we need it, the stages of sleep,
dreaming, sleep disorders...etc. You
name it, I read it. Unfortunately, I
still do not seem to completely grasp the whole subject and perhaps I am not
meant to understand sleep, perhaps I am only meant to enjoy it. =)
Any way the topic of sleep intrigues me, because since I can
recall I have been an insomniac. At
times I feel it taking its toll on me, yet other times I feel fine. I have
recently learned that many people can sleep a short amount of time with no obvious
ill effects and that people who are considered average sleepers can decrease
their sleep time significantly, also with no obvious ill effects. This information just baffled me, because
from experience, books I have read, and movies I have seen; I understood that
there were negative effects to sleep deprivation, and I know that if I had a
good sleeping schedule (which I do not), if someone decreased my time I would
not be a happy camper. I would feel as
if I need more sleep, because that is what I am used to.
I recently
saw a movie called The Machinist and
let me just say, the sleep deprivation even made the sexy Christian Bale not so
sexy. I know that there is still more
research to be done on the topic of sleep and hopefully it is more unwavering
then what I read. There are simply too
many theories and studies that require caution when reviewing. All I know is that although we humans may not
need eight hours of sleep daily, there are side effects to sleep deprivation. Some of them are depicted in the picture
below....
It sounds like you get grumpy if you dont get your sleep haha. It just depends on the person on how many hours of sleep they get. All those side effects of sleep depravation are crazy! Now im definetly going to get my 8 hours of sleep each night.
ReplyDeleteEven knowing the side effects of sleep deprivation, I doubt I'm going to go to sleep any earlier than I already do haha. I guess it's cause I'm used to little sleep already, but I know that my sister can sleep for hours(!!!) and not many people notice, but too much sleep can harm you to. I only know that because the doctor told my sister she needed to stop sleeping so much because it was giving her side effects of sleep deprivation.
ReplyDeleteYou always watch good movies! Lol I need to go see this one too! (I feel so behind) Anyway, I knew sleep deprivation had some effects, but never to the extent of what the diagram shows. The brain, heart, and immune system all affected, wow! Without sleep I do tend to get irritable and I do feel like my brain doesn’t work. When I pull all nighters for example, I’ll be at work or in class like a zombie and even a simple problem will take forever for me to answer. With all these effects, it led me to wonder that with the evolving world if there would be something or if there is something to counteract these effects (besides sleep). Is there a way for our brain to rest without us having to rest? That would be really helpful.
ReplyDeleteThe Machinist is such a good movie!
ReplyDeleteYes, sleep deprivation is interesting: before reading the chapter assigned to us in class, I never knew that people could get by with so little sleep and also not get by with so little sleep. It's incredible.