News on sleep deprivation and your health

At last week’s American Diabetes Association in National Sessions, I found out that lack of sleep is associated with risk of diabetes. Improving sleep is now considered very important intervention to reducing the risk for diabetes. However, NIH researcher Dr. Eve Van Canter on sleep deprivation told us that changing people’s sleeping habits was harder than getting them to stop smoking or change their eating habits.

Sleep duration in the United States has declined one and one-half hours by self-report in the last 50 years, spurred on by increased work hours, caffeine intake, television and computer usage. Sleep deprivation refers to shortened sleep length due to something external, like worrying, or caffeine, which restricts the opportunity to sleep. Sleep deprivation can be the cause of poor job performance, higher absenteeism from work, increased risk of accidents and poor physical and mental health, among others. During the deeper phases of sleep, energy is restored, damaged tissue is repaired and growth hormones are released.

What’s the problem? Drinking alcohol or beverages containing caffeine in the afternoon or evening, exercising close to bedtime, following an irregular morning and nighttime schedule and working or doing other mentally intense activities right before or after getting into bed can disrupt sleep.

It is particularly important to make sure children are getting enough sleep because one-third of American children who don’t are more likely to misbehave, have trouble concentrating and injure themselves. So what is the amount of sleep we should have? The National Sleep Foundation reports the need for sleep for:

• Babies 3-11 months: 12 to 18 hours

• Toddlers: 12 to 14 hours

• Preschoolers: 11 to 13 hours

• Children ages 5 and up: 9 to 10 hours

• Teens: 9 to 9.5 hours

• Most adults: 7 to 8 hours

• Older adults: 6 hours

What are some solutions to getting more sleep? Under your control is limiting caffeine consumption, eating earlier, not exercising two hours before sleep and calming your bedroom environment by removing or covering the television, computer and exercise equipment. Unfortunately, in the United States most middle schools and high schools open earliest, leaving afternoons for extracurricular activities, sports and part-time jobs. On a structural level, based on the body of sleep research now available on adolescent sleep patterns and daytime alertness, later school start times would help children’s sleep needs and have already been instituted in parts of Minnesota.

The information presented here is not medical advice. You need to talk with your physician before making lifestyle changes. Please e-mail me with your suggestions, questions and comments on healthy living at [email protected].