“Let’s put the women and children to bed and go lookin’ for dinner!” - Joe Kane, The Program

It’s no secret around these parts that I’m a big fan of sleep, more specifically how it affects health. My review of the book Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival is a good start for why I think sleep is so important.

Here are a few articles on sleep from the past month or so:
More reports of children having trouble falling asleep than maintaining sleep

It is recommended that children in pre-school sleep between 11-13 hours a night, school-aged children between 10-11 hours of sleep a night, and adolescents about nine hours a night.

Advice for falling asleep easily applies to children just as much as it applies to adults. Turn off the TV or computer at least 30 minutes before going to bed as the light disturbs your internal clock. Better yet, remove TVs and computers from bedrooms. Get rid of all the bright or blinky things in the room: night lights, TVs and DVD players. Cover windows to make it darker and put the alarm clock facing away so the lights aren’t in your face. With as crucial as sleep is to overall health, make sure your children are able to get enough quality sleep to function properly.

Alcohol and sleep restriction can affect young men’s alertness and driving performance

Combining low-dose alcohol with moderate sleep restriction can have a significant adverse effect on young men’s subjective alertness and performance behind the wheel, according to a study published in the October 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

Does this sound like college life to anyone? Late nights partying, early mornings for class…it’s called “Burning the Candle at Both Ends” and most of us have been in that stage at one point or another. It’s also a recipe for disaster when driving. I know that at that point in my life, even without alcohol, I occasionally had trouble staying awake while driving, even in broad daylight. So get enough sleep and don’t drink and drive. It’s not worth killing yourself or someone else.

Is A Good Night’s Sleep Crucial For Your Health?
I’ll go ahead and answer that one for you: Yes! Yes it is!

They found that following sleep restriction to 4 hours per night, an individual’s ability to perform complex tasks gradually decreased during the five days. Several changes in their immunological system were also recognized, e.g. increase in CRP (C-reactive protein), an indicator of defense reaction.

So sleep deprivation is causing an immune system reaction? Think about that the next time someone tells you they “only need 5 hours of sleep a night.” There are surely differences in the amount of sleep people need, just as some people need more carbs or more protein or more fat, but I highly doubt very many people are thriving on 5-6 hours of sleep per night.

It’s important to try to mimic as closely as possible ancestral patterns of sleep. Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere are entering winter, which means longer nights and shorter days. That means we should be sleeping more. I’m trying to put in close to 9 hours a night now that it’s moving towards winter. In our culture, going to bed at sundown isn’t realistic, but we need to get as much as possible. Just like other animals, humans evolved to match the daily happenings of the sun very closely in their circadian rhythms.

If you think about life before the advent of the light bulb and cheap electricity, after the sun went down, there would’ve been little that went on. Towns rolled up the sidewalks at sundown since lighting the place was so expensive. Families probably kept a fire or candle burning for awhile, but would’ve gone to sleep before it got too late. There was no David Letterman Show to keep us awake till midnight. Prior to mastering fire, there would have been nothing but the light of the night sky to provide any illumination after sundown. Our bodies still match the happenings of the sun just as closely, but most of us manage to ignore it with fluorescent lights, TVs, and computers.


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