Physical Effects of Sleep Deprivation - Your Health Depends on Proper Sleep

We've been told time and time again that "sleep does a body good", but a good number of us still tend to disregard this health advice - that is, the importance of sleep. In today's fast-paced society, the word "important" has been re-defined, and it favors anti-fatigue performance like working overtime. While this is a good attributes in any performance, they neglect to disclose the consequences. One of those consequences is the lack of proper sleep. The physical effects of sleep deprivation and the psychological effects of being sleep deprived far out-weigh this re-defined "importance".

For example, research has shown that a lack of proper sleep is responsible for about 6 - 7% of all traffic accidents involving sleep deprived individuals - some even causing death! Other research has shown sleep deprivation affects things like vision, causes hallucinations, fatigue, irritability, memory failure, slowed speech, performance, and other psychological inabilities. Interestingly, the conditions under which this research was performed is quite telling. The longer a person is deprived of sleep, the more prone that person is to suffer from the inability to differentiate reality from dreams.

Sleep plays a vital role in our physical and psychological well-being. Nature compels us to fall asleep, so it would be counter-productive to discount it's importance. The health of an alert and well-functioning individual does not suffer from sleep deprivation, a sleep disorder, obstructive breathing, insomnia or fatigue. Nor does he need the use of an apnea cpap machine, snoring treatment or cure. Knowing this, we may want to think about what's really important - especially when our very own health and mental status depend on it!

See Also: REM Sleep Disorder

About The Author:
Nicole Miller is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.sleep-disorders-help.com.