Sleep. Are You Getting Enough?

I'm someone who routinely manages on around five- or six-hours sleep - and I have done so for all of my working life. I may wake up a little tired, but nothing that a shower and a coffee cannot remedy and there's usually time to catch-up at the weekend if need be.

A Night Owl and An Early Bird

None of this seems odd or unusual, or dangerous. I've grown up in an era where leaders - politicians, business people - boast or are noted for their lack of sleep. These are people who, though they can provoke a strong reaction and divided opinion, are known for being driven leaders, staying ahead of the game, and needing little sleep. I've felt quite naturally in that camp: not just a night owl but also the early bird that catches the worm.

Attributable Risks

Yet experts say routinely missing out on sleep attributes to a long list of health risks: increased blood pressure, stress hormones, hunger and desire for sugar and fat, leading to rising chances of Type 2 diabetes risk, and increased potential of the furring of the arteries.

There are also negative effects on the hormones affecting our reproductive health, the potential for cancer rises, just as it does for Alzheimer's Disease, and your immune system is likely to be dampened down, leaving you prone to illness. Most of these are longer term problems, but the more immediately relatable facts seem to be that in the short and immediate term, one's everyday ability to work, to be creative, and remember important things are all likely to be compromised.

Less Than Seven Hours 

I am shocked by this, and I had assumed that my lower need for sleep was something I was blessed with. Apparently, I am not alone though, and stats show that some 39% of British people average less than seven hours sleep a night, with the number getting just five or six having risen dramatically over the past decade. In the US, the average has fallen from nine hours to just six and a half over the past fifty years, with the obesity rate rising in the same period from 13% to around 35%.

Contributory Factors

I am not sure that this can all be down to lack of sleep; increased food and less exercise in the same period must also be contributory factors. Now there is the curse of not just more TV but also more screen time of all kinds. In an ideal world we would have a day divided neatly into three eight-hour periods: eight hours sleep, eight hours work, and eight hours for other things, which might include exercise, relaxation, socialising, eating and leisure pursuits or downtime. The reality is that for many of us it seems to look more like twelve hours either working in an office or working from home, and only six or seven hours sleep, and I am not sure what happens in the rest of the time, but a lot of it seems to include looking at emails and thinking about work.

White-light Night Lights

Prime time TV doesn't finish until midnight and many people now have a TV in their bedroom and are likely subscribed to multiple different streaming platforms. An even more pernicious evil seems to be the small screens: the white-light, night lights. It's so easy to have these in the bedroom, not only because they can serve up social media highlights but because they can act as audio books for getting you to sleep, alarm clocks for waking you up, and content feeds to news, as well as emails and social What's App and other messages.

So yes, less sleep is almost inevitable for me, one way or another. I also know it's not just me: according to The World Health Authority, this lack of sleep - however caused - is such a big problem that it's declared a sleep loss epidemic throughout industrialised nations.

Decision Time

So, what is the solution? A curb on replying to emails - and sending them, late at night, I suspect. A self-inflicted ban on phones in the bedroom, and the same with the TV? Do you do this already? Maybe you do, but It's something that I'm going to try. Along with no more caffeine after midday, perhaps. Who knows, that might cure the need to even be watching Netflix late at night.

I'm coming round to the idea that binge-watching episodes of an exciting drama series is as unhealthy as binge-eating, and potentially just as likely to have serious health implications. 

Given the warnings - this is one decision I suppose I really don't need to sleep on.

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Daniel - banning Netfiix from the bedroom; will watch instead on his commute.

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